Pakistan’s households may face a gas loadshedding schedule of about 16 hours a day this winter if a plan now with the government goes ahead. Sources say domestic consumers would get piped gas for only eight hours in each 24-hour period because demand is running ahead of supply. The Ministry of Petroleum has finished preparing the winter plan and is expected to present it to the prime minister soon. No official approval or start date has been announced.
How the proposed supply window would work
Under the draft gas loadshedding schedule, supply would be available around breakfast, afternoon and dinner. For the rest of the day, flow is likely to be interrupted. That pattern is meant to cover the main cooking times while reducing use overnight and between meals.
Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), the utility that serves much of northern and central Pakistan, and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), which serves the south, would each issue their own gas supply schedule for their areas. Local timing could therefore differ even if the eight-hour daily limit is shared across regions.
Current domestic supply levels
Available data put SNGPL’s present delivery to domestic users at 487 million cubic feet a day. SSGC is supplying about 286 million cubic feet a day to households. Those figures show how much pipeline gas is already going into homes before any winter cutbacks take effect.
Alongside worries about limited piped gas, a rise in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices — cylinder fuel many families use when the line is off — could add to household pressure. Sources did not give a new LPG rate.
What still needs approval
The proposal is not yet policy. Sources said the Petroleum Ministry has completed its winter work and will take the file to the prime minister, but there has been no official announcement on final approval or when any gas loadshedding schedule would begin. Until that happens, the eight-hour window and meal-time pattern remain a plan under discussion, not a confirmed nationwide order.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sardiyon mein gharoun ko rozana sirf lagbhag ath ghantay pipeline gas milne ka plan hai. Baqi waqt loadshedding ho sakti hai. Gas subah, dopahar aur shaam ke khane ke waqt milne ka irada hai. Yeh abhi final nahi; pehle wazir-e-azam ke paas jana hai.
