The Afghanistan Chambers Federation has accused the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the country's single electricity provider, of failing to sustain a necessary amount of electricity to citizens and businesses, saying that the power outages are causing serious harm in the manufacturing sector, especially in factories located in the capital city of Kabul. 

Sakhi Ahmad Paiman, the federation's vice president, said the country's industry has experienced the worst year in 20 years in terms of available electricity. 

“Our industry owners lose tens of thousands in each power cutoff. Also, Breshna is in a state of crisis and its leadership is incapable of managing the crisis,” he said. 

Kabul residents also complain about the outages and the shortage of electricity in homes and in businesses.   

Thousands of dollars are being lost every day due to a lack of electricity for the manufacturing industry, said residents, stating that there has been no electricity in many parts of the capital since the passing of Eid al-Adha. In recent months electricity is sometimes limited to only three hours a day in parts of Kabul city, residents say.

“When they provide electricity to a market they cut off the electricity to as many as 1,500 houses,” said Abdul Samad, a resident of Chehelston. 

“We had electricity for only three days during Eid and there was no electricity after that. But our electricity bills are always between 2,000 Afghani and 4,000 Afghanis,” said Abdul Khaliq, a resident in the Darulaman area of Kabul.

“There is electricity for only two to three hours around the clock, but when you see at the electricity bills nowadays, they are more than the previous years' bills,” said Kabul resident Navid. 

Breshna has faced criticism from industry figures before, who say that the company has significantly overextended the electricity network in recent years without accurately taking into account its supply capacity.

“Breshna is trying to provide regular electricity to the citizens,” said Niazi Sangar, a spokesman for Breshna. 

According to official figures, Kabul's electricity network currently needs 520 megawatts of electricity, and a Breshna spokesperson has said that there is only 260 megawatts of electricity available for the capital city, therefore the company has to cut off the electricity in Kabul for 16 hours every 24 hours.