Unending load-shedding: Senate panel recommends end to exemptions for elite
Committee on water and power says even Presidency, PM House should face power cuts.
Chairman Hussain asked the consumers to not pay their bills if power companies recover the additional amount on account of fuel adjustment for the last eight months. DESIGN: SAMRA AAMIR
ISLAMABAD:
With no end in sight to the crippling power crisis, a parliamentary panel has recommended ending the exemption of load-shedding to the elite of the country, including the Presidency, Prime Minister’s House and the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad.
The Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power meeting on Friday with Senator Zahid Khan in the chair voiced grave concerns over the prolonged power outages in the country and called for uniform load-shedding across the country.
“Only hospitals and sensitive military installations should be exempted from load-shedding and exemption of load-shedding should be ended for the President House, Prime Minister’s House, Parliament House, Supreme Court, judges colony, ministers enclave and the diplomatic enclave,” the standing committee said.
It also recommended stopping the recovery of fuel adjustment surcharge of the last eight months from consumers. Chairman Hussain asked the consumers to not pay their bills if power companies recover the additional amount on account of fuel adjustment for the last eight months.
The committee asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to let the new government deal with the matter and recommended halting 650 megawatts (MW) of power supply to Karachi Electric Supply Company immediately to add it to the national grid.
The water and power ministry officials informed the Senate body that the worst of the current crisis would continue till May 29 due to the lack of funds to purchase fuel to operate power plants.
The officials said the finance ministry was not cooperating to release the funds to purchase fuel.
“We held certain meetings with the finance ministry which has agreed now to provide Rs10 billion on May 28,” an official said.
The current power generation stands at 9,718MW, while demand is 15,000MW, creating a shortfall of 5,282MW.
Ministry officials said a load-shedding schedule was given to each power distribution company (DISCO), but companies were drawing more power from their share which forced the National Power Control Centre to halt power supply to safeguard grid stations.
Secretary Water and Power Anwar Ahmad informed the committee that roughly Rs3.5 billion was need on a daily basis to generate the required power. He said that independent power plants could be powered by coal in 18 months. He said efficient power plants were receiving incentives the world over to generate maximum power but in Pakistan, those power plants generating less power were getting incentives.
Ahmad claimed power plants in Pakistan were old and were consuming more fuel than plants operating in India and Bangladesh. “These plants have been installed in Pakistan after painting,” he said, adding that no energy efficiency audit of these plants had been conducted so far.
Standing committee member Shahi Syed said ordinary people were suffering from the prolonged power crisis, whereas the management of KESC was minting million of rupees from consumers.
The parliamentary panel said the monitoring system of the power sector had failed because officials of departments working under the Ministry of Water and Power were providing different statements. Ahmad also admitted that the monitoring system had failed, however he said the water and power ministry was signing performance agreements with DISCOs to improve their performance.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2013.
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With no end in sight to the crippling power crisis, a parliamentary panel has recommended ending the exemption of load-shedding to the elite of the country, including the Presidency, Prime Minister’s House and the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad.
The Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power meeting on Friday with Senator Zahid Khan in the chair voiced grave concerns over the prolonged power outages in the country and called for uniform load-shedding across the country.
“Only hospitals and sensitive military installations should be exempted from load-shedding and exemption of load-shedding should be ended for the President House, Prime Minister’s House, Parliament House, Supreme Court, judges colony, ministers enclave and the diplomatic enclave,” the standing committee said.
It also recommended stopping the recovery of fuel adjustment surcharge of the last eight months from consumers. Chairman Hussain asked the consumers to not pay their bills if power companies recover the additional amount on account of fuel adjustment for the last eight months.
The committee asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to let the new government deal with the matter and recommended halting 650 megawatts (MW) of power supply to Karachi Electric Supply Company immediately to add it to the national grid.
The water and power ministry officials informed the Senate body that the worst of the current crisis would continue till May 29 due to the lack of funds to purchase fuel to operate power plants.
The officials said the finance ministry was not cooperating to release the funds to purchase fuel.
“We held certain meetings with the finance ministry which has agreed now to provide Rs10 billion on May 28,” an official said.
The current power generation stands at 9,718MW, while demand is 15,000MW, creating a shortfall of 5,282MW.
Ministry officials said a load-shedding schedule was given to each power distribution company (DISCO), but companies were drawing more power from their share which forced the National Power Control Centre to halt power supply to safeguard grid stations.
Secretary Water and Power Anwar Ahmad informed the committee that roughly Rs3.5 billion was need on a daily basis to generate the required power. He said that independent power plants could be powered by coal in 18 months. He said efficient power plants were receiving incentives the world over to generate maximum power but in Pakistan, those power plants generating less power were getting incentives.
Ahmad claimed power plants in Pakistan were old and were consuming more fuel than plants operating in India and Bangladesh. “These plants have been installed in Pakistan after painting,” he said, adding that no energy efficiency audit of these plants had been conducted so far.
Standing committee member Shahi Syed said ordinary people were suffering from the prolonged power crisis, whereas the management of KESC was minting million of rupees from consumers.
The parliamentary panel said the monitoring system of the power sector had failed because officials of departments working under the Ministry of Water and Power were providing different statements. Ahmad also admitted that the monitoring system had failed, however he said the water and power ministry was signing performance agreements with DISCOs to improve their performance.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2013.
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