LAHORE: A power breakdown occurred in some parts of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday due to the tripping of Mangla Power House. According to National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), the breakdown occurred due to a technical fault. Various areas in the four provinces, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir, suffered a power breakdown at around 9:30am, while over 15 power plants were rendered non-functional as a safety precaution when the transmission lines tripped, preventing the national grid from tripping. The power ministry spokesman earlier said tripping of the transmission line saved the southern areas of the country from facing a power breakdown. National Power Control Centre officials said on condition of anonymity that the country’s power generation system is being kept under tight control on the request of Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif. They claimed a number of power plants had been ordered shut in order to save fuel, and those running on furnace oil have not been permitted to run at full capacity. Sources added that due to annual canal closure, Tarbela, Mangla dams and the Ghazi-Barotha hydropower project are generating 4,000 megawatts less electricity, bringing their electricity generation to around 800-1,300MW, which means power supply is less than demand. Almost half of Lahore and a large swath of the country were left without electricity, as intense fog and humidity caused a shutdown of Punjab’s Muzaffargarh district’s grid station, media reports said.