Power shortage grips country yet again

Electricity shortfall hits nearly 7,100 MW; duration of unannounced outages reaches 10 hours

ISLAMABAD:

Against the claim of the previous PTI regime of leaving the county in the “best running condition”, the electricity shortfall in the country has hit nearly 7,100 MW while the duration of unannounced power outages have reached 10 hours.

The chairman of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) lambasted the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) chief for the power outages in the federal capital that were eight hours long.

In some areas where the line losses are greater, residents are being subjected to 18 hours of power outages.

Sources in the Power Division said 900 MW of electricity was being produced through hydroelectric generation.

They added that Tarbela Dam was empty for the last 60 days as water storage was currently halted in the reservoir because of the development work under way on its third and fourth extension projects.

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The sources said Tarbela Dam was currently generating 600 MW of electricity only.

Similarly, they said Mangla Dam too had almost hit a dead level.

The sources said he government-owned thermal power plants the capacity to produce over 4000 MW of electricity but several of them were shut because of technical faults while other were closed due to fuel shortage.

They added that the government-owned thermal power plants were currently generating 200 MW of electricity.

The Power Division sources said independent power producers (IPPs) were closed because finance oil, coal, and LNG were unavailable.

They added that IPPs were currently generating 11,500 MW of electricity.

The country’s total power generation stood at 14,400 MW against the demand for than 21,500 MW.

Around 2,000 MW of electricity is being wasted due to technical problems of power distribution companies.

The sources said the non-utilisation of generated electricity was causing a daily loss of Rs3 billion to the economy.

Separately, Nepra held a hearing for the renewal of licences of power distribution companies.

IESCO CEO Dr Muhammad Amjad told Nepra that his company had the lowest losses and its recovery rate was also better than the rest.

Nepra chairman Tauseef Farooqi told the IESCO CEO that his wife had informed him that the power was out for eight hours.

He added that the house in front of his residence suffered power outages twice.

“If you are in this condition, what would be the case of the rest of the distribution companies?”

The Nepra chairman said that the authority would examine the last five-year performance of the distribution companies and then renew their licences.

He directed the power distribution companies to submit their five-year annual reports to Nepra.