Pakistan producing ‘surplus’ electricity

Ministry says distribution companies responsible for power cuts

ISLAMABAD:

The energy ministry on Saturday said the country was producing surplus electricity and the reason behind power outages was the administrative and technical shortcomings of the distribution companies.

According to a spokesperson for the ministry’s Power Division, the recorded system demand at peak time -- 2030 hours -- was 18,819MW on Saturday while the power availability to meet it stood at 22,000MW.

“All power distribution companies have been receiving electricity from the main system as per their demands,” the spokesperson added.

He said local faults or maintenance work could not be termed “load shedding”.

The ministry maintained that the country’s power demand was 23,527MW against the production of 25,000MW -- leaves it with a surplus of 147MW and the electricity shortage was “artificial”.

Since the start of the ongoing month, power outages have increased across the country, particularly in Karachi, where citizens in some areas are forced to put with the scorching summer heat for up to 12 hours without electricity amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The federal government had recently announced that it was ready to provide 500MW additional electricity to K-Electric (KE) from the national grid to end prolonged power cuts in Karachi.

However, it dismissed KE’s claim that there was a shortage of furnace oil in the market and attributed the power outages in the city to the power company’s system constraints.

The federal cabinet has already approved the provision of additional 1,100MW from the national grid to KE, but its system is not able to absorb the extra electricity at present and its upgrading will carry on until 2022-23 for that to happen, the energy ministry said in a statement.

“KE has wrongly attributed the power outages to the unavailability of fuel. The federal government is providing 800MW electricity to KE and is ready to provide additional 500MW from national grid,” the statement read. “But the KE’s system physical constraints are a major hurdle in taking the additional electricity. It clearly indicates that system upgradation on part of KE has not taken place at the appropriate level and with appropriate investment,” it added.

“It is unfortunate to note that KE did not make investment in the system upgradation and modernisation due to which it is facing difficulty at the time of peak demand.”

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has also directed all power distribution companies to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to consumers.

The regulatory authority said it had taken serious notice of various media reports about unscheduled power outages lasting up to 12 hours a day by all power distribution companies because of which the public was suffering in the current spell of heat wave, especially in the areas where a ‘smart lockdown’ had been enforced to stem the spread of Covid-19.

The power regulatory said power distribution companies were obligated to provide uninterrupted and reliable power supply to the consumers under the relevant provisions of their licenses. Therefore, all Dicos have been strictly directed to take immediate remedial measures to minimise the load shedding and also submit a report in this regard to the authority immediately, it added.