OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE The electricity shortfall in the national grid has reached 5,166 megawatt with 10 to 16 hours loadshedding in major cities and town. The rural areas are under the grip of above 18-hour outages. According to the Pakistan Electric Power Company, electricity generation is standing at 12,936 MW while the demand stands at 18,102 MW. The PEPCO stated that the Karachi Electric Supply Company was being supplied 700 MW during last 24-hours. The distribution companies, in order to deal with the shortfall, are conducting average 10 to 12 hours loadshedding in big cities, 14 to 16 hours outages in small cities and towns while the rural areas are experiencing 18 hours shutdown, which has been creating havoc in daily routine life. A local TV reported that the residents in Multan protested against the increased hours of loadshedding in the city and burnt tires in front of the MEPCO office. Reportedly, the situation in Khyber PK, Balochistan and Interiors Sindh is also worsening day by day. The residents have been facing up to 18 hours of loadshedding, which has severely impacted business activities. As per the PEPCO statement, the hydel generation was standing at 5,175MW while the thermal and IPPs contribution in the National Grid had been stated 1,816MW and 5,820MW respectively. Rental power plants shared 125MW.