On Monday, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) began a sweeping series of planned power shutdowns across Lahore and neighboring districts as part of maintenance and system upgrades before winter.
Lesco's timetable indicates that roughly 200 urban and rural subdivisions will experience outages lasting five to seven hours each day, with some locations seeing up to eight hours, primarily between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The work targets 132kV and 220kV grid stations and their linked 11kV feeders. Tasks include replacing worn conductors and insulators, trimming trees near high-voltage lines, overhauling grid stations and splitting feeders to handle seasonal demand.
In Lahore, the blackout zones cover Allama Iqbal Town, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Shadman, Johar Town, Model Town, Defence, Cantt and Walton Road, as well as industrial and commercial zones around Raiwind, Manga Mandi, Sundar and Jubilee Town.
The schedule also extends to parts of Sheikhupura such as Qila Sattar Shah and Atta Abad, and to Kasur, Okara, Muridke, Farooqabad, Hujra Shah Muqeem and Phool Nagar.
Sources said some Lesco field offices reported delays in receiving vital maintenance equipment and replacement parts, sparking worries about possible setbacks in restoring power. Residents in the affected zones are advised to charge essential devices and make necessary arrangements before the outages.
