Karachi suffered a major power outage on Thursday when the country's main power utility cut the supply because the city's power company had not paid its bills, an official said. Karachi is Pakistan's biggest city with a population of more than 13 million and is home to many industries, the country's two main ports and its main stock market.

"At around 8 am WAPDA cut its 300 MW supplies to us and as a result the entire system tripped," said Syed Sultan Hasan, spokesman for the Karachi Electric Supply Co, which supplies power to Karachi. A spokesman for the Pakistan Electric Power Co, which manages WAPDA's power wing, said supplies were cut because dues had not been paid.

"KESC owes 34.80 billion rupees ($554 million) to us and we have been writing to them every week to make at least some payments," said the spokesman, Tahir Basharat Cheema. "But let alone making payments, they're not even replying to our letters," he said.

Copyright Reuters, 2008