- A SURVEY REPORT ON IMPACT OF LOAD

SHEDDING IN URBAN AREAS OF

MULTAN -

§ ARIF Masood - [Roll # 50]

§ Subject: Business Research Methods.
§ BS (Accounting & Finance) (2006-2010)
§ Department Of Commerce, BZU Multan.
 • IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING IN URBAN AREAS OF MULTAN- SURVEY REPORT •

• INTRODUCTORY SECTION •
Electricity shortage and Load shedding is a phenomena that is not new to Pakistan but
in past one year or so Pakistan has been hit by worst power shortage crisis of its more
than 50 year’s history. In today world, without electricity and power it’s not just difficult
but almost impossible to survive and prosper. Everyone across Pakistan has been badly
affected by this power and electricity crisis. No matter one belongs to business sector,
industry or is just a domestic user of electricity is being affected. Like other cities of
Pakistan, Multan also experienced many hours of hours of load shedding in past 4-6
months specially. In fact, it is reported that as compared to other major cities of
Pakistan, Multan faced more hours of load shedding.

We conducted this survey to measure impact of load shedding on life of people

belonging to different walks of life in urban areas of Multan. Aim was to ascertain how
people feel about load shedding and how it has affected them. Apart from that study
focused on how different people have taken actions to cope with this heavy load
shedding and what actions they think, they can take to help country in overcoming load
shedding problem. Study conducted was applied in nature and it was important to find
out various factors that relate to load shedding in current state of affairs. It will help not
only Government in understanding people, so that it can manage this crisis in better.
WAPDA and power supplying agencies can take help from this study and can bring
improvement in scheduled hours of load shedding, so that people are least affected. It
will also be helpful to know what actions people are ready to take on personal level to
cope with load shedding. Government can assist people in this regard by help of
information found during this study.

Ø Hypotheses
Apart from collecting information about different variables, study will be to check below
stated hypothesis;

“As income level increases, number of bearable hours decrease”

WHAT is ahead!

In next section you will read about data collection techniques and methodology
adopted in this study. Section 3 will deal with statistical findings; where as
Section 4 will handle statistical analysis. Afterwards will be conclusion,
Limitations and recommendations along with references.

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-1]

 • METHODOLOGY SECTION •
Population Boundaries: Residents of Urban areas constitute the whole population of
this study.

Survey Instrument: Primary data was collected during this study and no help was
taken from secondary data since no secondary data in form of literature was available.
To collect primary data a questionnaire constituting around 19 questions was designed.

Questionnaire basically asked for following information:

• Demographic information
• Effects of load shedding
• Actions taken in response of load shedding
• Actions that people are willing to take at personal level to overcome load shedding

Sample size and Sampling Technique: The questionnaires were distributed to 58

correspondents who filled it by themselves. Convenient sampling technique was used to
select correspondents, but while using convenient sampling technique it was kept in
mind that there should not be any concentration. Therefore intentional efforts were
made to make it sure that there is no much difference in proportion of correspondents
from different locations of Multan.

Analysis Technique: SPSS version 12 was used to input data and further analyze it
statistically.

Important Variables of Study: Current and bearable hours of load shedding are 2
important variables of study. Apart from that income level and category are also
important in this study. Hours of Load shedding are an independent variable on which
action taken by correspondent depends therefore action take in response is a
dependent variable.

Income Level Bearable Hours

Category You Belong to..

Independent Variable Intervening Variable Dependent Variable

As income level increases, number of bearable hour’s decreases, but this could be intervened
by category variable, for example a low income level person belonging to business category can
have less bearable hours as compared to high income level student or job holder. So, there is
negative relationship between income variable and bearable hour’s variable, but this extent of
this relationship can be disturbed by intervening variable of category.

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-2]

 • RESULTS & ANALYSIS SECTION •
Ø Frequencies OF Age & Gender Group
Gender Group
Gender Percentage

Gender Frequency Percent

Female 36 62.1 Male
Male 22 37.9 38%
Total 58 100.0

Female
62%

Age Group 35

Age 30
Range Frequency Percent
15 25.9
15-20 25
20-25 31 53.4
25-30 9 15.5 20
30+ 3 5.2
Total 58 100.0 15

10

0
15-20 20-25 25-30 30+

Age RANGE Frequency

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Ø Cross Table (Contingency Table) OF Age & Gender Group

Cross Table (Contingency Table) OF Gender and Age Group

Gender Group
Female Male Total
Age 15-20 10 5 15
Group 20-25 18 13 31
25-30 6 3 9
30+ 2 1 3
Total 36 22 58

35
30
Frequency

25
20 Female
15 Male
10
5
0
15-20 20-25 25-30 30+
Age and Gender

• In age range of [15-20], 10 were female and 5 were male.

• In age range of [20-25], 18 were female and 13 were male.
• In age range of [25-30], 6 were female and 2 were male.
• In age of [30+], 2 were female and 1 was male.
• Overall 36 were female and 22 were male.

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Ø Frequencies & Percentages for Category

Category wise Distribution

Category Frequency Percent

Business 3 5.2
Student 41 70.7
Household 2 3.4
JOB holder 12 20.7
Total 58 100.0

Category wise Distribution

Business
5%
Jobholder
21%

Household
3%

Student
71%

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-5]

Ø Frequencies & Percentages for Location

Correspondents Location

Location Frequency Percent

Bosan road Side 24 41.4
Cantt 8 13.8
Mumtazabad 7 12.1
newMultan 13 22.4
others 6 10.3
Total 58 100.0

[Multan MAP – LOCATION wise correspondents distribution]

BOSAN road zone

(41.4%)

New Multan
Side (22.4%)
CANTT, MDA zone

(13.8%)

Mumtaz’abad Side

(12.1%)

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-6]

Ø Frequencies and Histogram of Income level

Income Level Mean of income Level of total

Frequency Percent
1 Below 3000
of 58 correspondents is [1.95].
28 48.3
2 3000-8000 18 31.0
3 8000-15000 3 5.2
4 15000-25000 5 8.6
5 25000+ 4 6.9
Total 58 100.0

Histogram for Income Level

30

25

20

15

Frequency

10
Std. Dev. = 1.234
Mean = 1.95
5
N = 58
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6

INCOME [POCKET money] range

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-7]

Ø Cross Table for Experience of Load Shedding and Affection of Load
shedding

Experiencing Load
Shedding

No Yes Total
Affection of No 8 1 9
Load
Yes 2 47 49
Shedding
Total 10 48 58

47 out of 58 replied in yes to both questions, where as 8 replied in NO to both

questions. Replies of only 3 were contradictory in nature to both questions. It shows that
both variables are strongly and positively co-related.

Ø Hours of Load shedding - Frequencies

Hours of Load shedding Frequency Percent

Below 2 Hours 18 31.0
2-4 Hours 13 22.4
4-8 Hours 18 31.0
8+ hours 9 15.5
Total 58 100.0

Bar Chart for Hours of Load shedding (Percentage)

35
30
25
Percentage

20
15
Hours Of Load Shedding
10
5
0
below 2 2-4 hours 4-8 hours 8+ hours
Hours Range

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-8]

Ø Bearable Hours
Bearable hours
Number of Bearable Hours Frequency Percent
0 Hour 13 22.4 8+ hours
below 2 Hours 34 58.6 4-8 hours
2-4 Hours 8 13.8 2-4 hours
4-8 Hours 2 3.4
below 2
more than 8 hours 1 1.7
0 hour
Total 58 100.0
0 20 40 60 80

For majority of correspondents, that is around 81%, the hours of load shedding were 0 hours or
below 2 hours.

Ø Adopted For Alternative

Adopted For Alternative
No Yes Total
Which Generator 0 6(18.8%) 6
Alternative
UPS 0 13(40.6%) 13
Emergency
0 13(40.6%) 13
Light
Need ONE 22(84.6%) 0 22
Don’t NEED 4(15.4%) 0 4
Total 26 32 58

No 0 84.6% 15.4% UPS

Generator
Emergency Light
don’t Need
Yes 40.6 18.8 40.6% Need ONE

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-9]

Ø Affect with respect to Timing and Season

Identifying impact with respect to TIMING

Frequency Percent
Day Timing 27 46.6
Night Timing 31 53.4
Total 58 100.0
Day
Night Timing
Timing 47%
53%

Identifying impact with respect to SEASON

Winter
season Frequency Percent 3%
Summer 56 96.6
Winter 2 3.4
Total 58 100.0

Summer
97%

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Ø Affected Activities
Correspondents were asked which of their activities are affected and they were given
option of selecting more than 1 option. Data shows following results.

Activities Affected Frequency Percentage

Domestic\Household 27 46.6%

Study\Biz 37 63.8%

Entertainment 22 37.9%

Rest\Shedule 21 36.2%

OTHER 2 3.4%

100

80

60
Affected Activities
40

20

0
Domestic Study\BIZ Rest\Shedule Other

Above attached area chart shows that for majority of correspondents’ study\business
and rest\schedules activities were most affected.

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-11]

Ø Solutions that can be taken at personal level
Solutions at personal Frequency Percentage
Level
Efficient Equipment 28 48.3%

By reducing wrong 36 62.1%

use

Innovative Solutions 19 32.8%

Other 3 5.2%

Ø Degree of Problem
Correspondents were asked weather they found load shedding problem as important as
poverty, inflation and load shedding. Following results were recorded.

Problem importance

Response Frequency Percent

Yes, so much Important 33 56.9
To Some Extent 23 39.7
Not, so important 2 3.4
Total 58 100.0

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 Analysis for testing Hypothesis that is “As income level increases,
number of bearable hours decrease”

INCOME range * Bearable Hours Cross tabulation

Bearable Hours Total

below 2 more than
0 Hour Hours 2-4 Hours 4-8 Hours 8 hours
INCOME range Below 3000 Count 6 19 2 0 1 28
% within INCOME range 21.4% 67.9% 7.1% .0% 3.6% 100.0%
3000-8000 Count 4 7 5 2 0 18
% within INCOME range 22.2% 38.9% 27.8% 11.1% .0% 100.0%
8000-15000 Count 0 3 0 0 0 3
% within INCOME range .0% 100.0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0%
15000-25000 Count 2 3 0 0 0 5
% within INCOME range 40.0% 60.0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0%
25000+ Count 1 3 0 0 0 4
% within INCOME range 25.0% 75.0% .0% .0% .0% 100.0%
Total Count 13 35 7 2 1 58
% within INCOME range 22.4% 60.3% 12.1% 3.4% 1.7% 100.0%

Truth of hypothesis can not be completely claimed as earlier while moving from below 3000 income
level to 3000-8000 an increase in graph can be observed. This disruption is actually because of
category variable and that is one variable that put limitations on this study.

2
1.88
1.5
1.25
hours 1
1 1.06
0.8
0.5

0
below 3000 3000-8000 8000-15000 15000-25000 25000+

“If we exclude all students from study to observe relation between real income level and
bearable hours, we will find the results to be completely supporting the above stated hypothesis.”

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-13]

Ø Limitations of Study
There are number of factor that put limitations on results and scope of this study and
research report. A few of them are listed below;

• Sample size was too small, which was not capable of representing a large part of
population.
• There was too much concentration of students; which also became a reason for
disturbing real income level.
• Sampling technique used in study was not one of effective techniques.

Ø Conclusion & Recommendations

Even though due to number of reasons and limitation this study may not be considered
accurate and effective in its results, but there are still number of suggestions that can be
given under this study. Study shows there should be better scheduling of load shedding
timing and things should be scheduled in such a way that the activities that are affected
most are not affected that much. Further scheduling should be done according to the
timings important to different consumers of electricity. Since consumers are interested
in reducing extra usage and also using efficient equipment, therefore Government
should take steps in this direction to facilitate the users.

[IMPACT OF LOAD SHEDDING – SURVEY] [ARIF Masood - 50] [Page-14]

Ø References:
• “Power shutdowns bring life to a halt” (2008, October 19). The NEWS.

• “Load shedding – how it has affected people in metro areas of South Africa” (2008, February
22). TNS research surveys CO.

• “Handling Multiple response” (2006, May 2). SPSS log.

• “Power load shedding increases in Pakistan” (2008, March 12). Pakistan Times.

• “Load shedding hits agriculture sector” (2008, November 30). The NATION.

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