Power crisis forces Pakistan to put clocks forward

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is switching to daylight saving time next month to reduce the impact of acute power shortages in the country, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday.

Electricity supplies to homes, businesses and factories across Pakistan have been cut for several hours a day over the past few months as the country grapples with a 4,000 MW power deficit.

The situation is likely to worsen as summer intensifies, when air conditioners are switched on full blast.

The government has decided that clocks would be moved forward an hour, to GMT+6, on June 1 to ensure maximum use of daylight, Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said.

"All this is being done to combat this menace of load-shedding," he told a news conference using a term that refers to managed power cuts.

Ashraf said markets and shops would be closed by 9.p.m. for three months through August to reduce power consumption.

He said the new government, which assumed office last month, was preparing plans to increase power generation capacity and hoped that load-shedding would be overcome in the next three years.

There was no capacity added in Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf came to power in a coup in 1999.

Pakistan tried moving to daylight saving time in 2002, but later abandoned it as many people, particularly those living in rural areas, ignored the switch.

(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)