People brave prolonged power outages
“Pakistan and China are a perfect match for collaboration on renewable energy (solar PV) as China is a globally known giant in renewable energy technology, while Pakistan needs to move away from thermal for power generation,” stated a KTrade Securities solar PV industry report. PHOTO: CHINA ECONOMIC NET
Most parts of the country face power outages of eight to ten hours per day due to a power shortfall of 5,856 megawatts (MW). However, the situation has slightly improved compared to last week—June 25 — when the shortfall was 6,516MW.
Some areas are even facing 14-hour-long outages due to technical faults. The areas with high electricity losses and electricity theft are also facing more power outages. Sources in the Power Division said the total production of electricity in the country is reported at 21,144MW, whereas the demand has hit 27,000MW.
Currently, private sector plants are generating 10,136MW of electricity and hydropower plants are generating 6,373MW. Similarly, 3,035MW is being produced by the nuclear power plants. A total of 115MW is being generated using solar power and 772MW by government thermal plants.
Bagasse is being used to produce 136MW. Bagasse is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane or sorghum stalks.
Recently, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved a Rs250.7 billion subsidy for the consumers of the KE – Karachi’s sole electricity supplier – and Rs20.7 billion for the clearance of the Chinese power plants' dues.
It gave the nod to another Rs56 billion for bearing the cost of electricity subsidy for the consumers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Of the Rs250.7 billion to be paid as price differential subsidy for the KE consumers, a sum of Rs76 billion will be returned during the current fiscal year in addition to around Rs35 billion non-cash settlement.
The rest of the amount will be released in the next fiscal year.
Headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the ECC also approved an electricity surcharge of Rs1.52 per unit to be recovered from the KE consumers in 12 months. Through the surcharge, the government would recover Rs25 billion from the KE consumers, the finance ministry said.