Better supplies: Ministry announces cut in outages for industrial units

Gradual improvement in hydroelectric power generation to ease crisis in coming days

LAHORE:

At a time when electricity consumers have braced for the worst load-shedding due to the recent fuel crisis, the Ministry of Water and Power has announced a reduction in the hours of industrial outages to four.

According to the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) spokesperson, total generation currently stands at 9,000 megawatts against the demand for 12,500MW, depicting a shortfall of 3,500MW.

Citing improved power generation as the reason for the reduction in outages, he said a gradual increase in hydroelectric power generation along with Uch-I and Uch-II plants will ease the shortages in coming days.

Currently, hydroelectric power generation stands at 1,400MW and Uch-I and Uch-II plants are adding 950MW to the national grid. The two plants remained closed on Friday due to a blast in a gas pipeline in Dera Murad Jamali but the system was restored on Saturday.

“Along with easing power shortages for the industry, the duration of outages for domestic consumers has also been reduced. Urban area residents can expect six hours of scheduled load-shedding and rural areas can experience outages for eight hours,” said Masood Ahmad, a National Power Control Centre (NPCC) consultant while talking to The Express Tribune.

Earlier, the industrial sector, especially that of Punjab, was receiving electricity for 14 hours a day and gas for four hours, which they claimed was not sufficient to run two shifts of eight hours.

Now the industry will get electricity for straight 20 hours along with four-hour gas supply, as a result many industrial units will be able to operate 24 hours a day.

“It is a sigh of relief, especially for the Punjab-based industry, and we are thankful to the authorities, we already had suffered a lot due to the energy crisis,” said All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Chairman SM Tanveer.

Textile exports have declined as the cost of doing business has increased, therefore, in addition to the smooth energy supply, the industry needs some tariff reduction to be able to compete in the global market, Tanveer added.

The situation had worsened in the last few days, when outages in the urban domestic sector crossed 10 hours. Industrial clusters of Punjab also claimed unscheduled load-shedding, which hampered business activities.

While experts still stand firm on their prediction of the power situation, which, according to them, might worsen in the near future as power houses are not receiving the required fuel and many plants are running below capacity.

During winters when hydel generation drops below 1000MW from its peak of 6,500, furnace oil, high speed diesel and natural gas become the main sources of generating electricity. Gencos and Independent Power Plants on the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) system , together require 32,000 metric tons of oil daily, but the companies are not receiving the required quantity.

“We managed the generation from Gencos in the recent fuel crisis because we keep reserve stocks of 8-10 days in nearly all power plants,” he said.

“The fuel situation these days is the main concern for authorities as the stocks are limited and government cannot afford to increase load-shedding for the domestic consumers or for the industry,” said a former official of Pepco.

Even if they manage to get the required fuel for daily generation, load-shedding will only reduce by  a few hours but the shortfall will still remain. The domestic consumers will continue to face electricity shortages because the government has diverted the additional generation towards the industrial sector, he added.   

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2015.

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