As the mercury shot up to 34 degrees Celsius with 66 per cent humidity on Monday, the city experienced more than eight hours of staggered load-shedding as the privatized Karachi Electricity Supply Company faced a shortfall of 500 megawatts in meeting the demand. The power outage was caused by problems faced by the utility's Bin Qasim plant's Unit 6, but the utility's management was not prepared to admit this.