Power cuts return as shortfall tops 6500MW

As the nation continues to grapple with an intense heat wave, citizens will face load-shedding for several hours a day due to a shortfall in electricity generation.

According to Express News, the shortfall of electricity rose to 6,516 megawatts, due to which load-shedding will continue for eight to ten hours a day all over Pakistan.

Sources from the Power Division said that the total production of electricity was 21,484 MW, whereas the demand reached 28,000 MW.

Currently, 7,073 MW are being generated by hydropower, 956 MW by government thermal power plants, 8,900 MW by private sector plants and 1,119 MW from solar power plants.

Similarly, 152 MW are being generated from bagasse and 3,164 MW are being produced from nuclear power plants.

The news comes shortly after the government approved an Rs328 billion power sector subsidy package, mainly to pick the cost of electricity of the K-Electric (KE) consumers and to partially clear much-delayed dues of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s power projects.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved to pick Rs250.7 billion subsidy for the KE consumers, Rs20.7 billion for the clearance of the Chinese power plants dues and another Rs56 billion for bearing the cost of electricity subsidy for the consumers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.