Pakistan Confirms Up to Seven Hours of Daily Power Cuts as Early Heat Meets an LNG Shortfall

Pakistan's Power Minister Awais Leghari has confirmed that the country is experiencing six to seven hours of load management a day, nearly three times the duration the government had previously announced, Dawn reported on 17 April 2026. He cited a sudden surge in demand, the unavailability of imported liquefied natural gas because of the Middle East crisis, and lower water discharges from dams. According to the minister, demand fluctuated sharply in April with changes in the weather.

Pakistan has about 6,000 MW of power plants designed to run on imported LNG. The minister said that once demand exceeds about 16,500 MW, the system runs short after using all other available sources, including imported and local coal, nuclear, hydropower and solar. The government postponed scheduled maintenance at nuclear power plants for several weeks, with no planned shutdowns until July. Early closing times for markets, imposed by the government, reduced peak demand by about 1,200 to 1,400 MW, according to the minister.

Leghari said spot LNG purchases were not possible at current prices and that foreign exchange was already under pressure from the cost of petrol and diesel imports. The minister acknowledged that cheaper generation capacity in the south could not be fully used to supply the north because of transmission constraints and stability issues, made worse by the absence of LNG plants located in the middle of the country. The swing from 9,000 MW to 20,000 MW in less than a week reflects how strongly Pakistan's electricity demand responds to temperature.

At the same time, the rapid spread of rooftop solar has changed the shape of demand on the grid. Pakistan's hydropower depends on the Indus river system, fed by snow and glacier melt from the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush, along with monsoon rainfall. Pakistan is not alone in facing pressure from the disruption to Gulf energy flows. Load management has a cost for the economy, affecting industry, small businesses and households.