ISLAMABAD: Electricity shortage has hit the country registering a shortfall of 4,200MW amid reports that power generation stands at 12,600 MW against a demand of 16,800MW. This state of affairs has landed the country in its worst ever power load shedding taking a heavy toll on the people from rural areas who are bearing the brunt of load shedding spanning 14 to 16 hours daily. Last summer witnessed nerve wracking power outage hours. It has been almost three years since the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was voted to power, but it could not deliver its main election promise of reining in the chronic electricity crisis in the country. Ashraf Ali, a resident of a rural area said to this scribe that it was just the end of April 2016. The weather has just started to get more hot and load shedding was already increased from 10 to 16 hours in normal routine — at the same scale it was observed during last year, There seems to be no progress at all. Pakistan’s peak requirement of electricity normally in summers is no more than 22000 MW (Mega Watts). Last week the Ministry of Water and Power announced a special load management plan for all consumers. According to the management plane the urban centres would be subjected to six-hour outages daily, while in the rural areas the load shedding duration would be eight hours. But the industrial consumers will be exempted from power outages, but in peak summer months, an industrial load management plan might be introduced. This strategy has been devised keeping in view the principle of equality in terms of recoveries and losses said a official for the Water and Power Ministry. The Nandipur power plant is not fully operational due to an issue with the fuel treatment plant, and gas has been diverted from the Guddu power plant which is also not functioning fully.