Energy crisis deepens as electricity shortfall exceeds 7,000MW

ISLAMABAD: The energy crisis in Pakistan has deepened as the electricity shortfall widened to over 7,000 megawatts, it emerged on Tuesday.

According to power division sources, the demand in the country for electricity has surged to 28,200 megawatts amid the sweltering weather conditions while the power supply is 21,200 megawatts, with power shortfall surging to over 7,000 megawatts.

Currently, the country is obtaining 4,635 megawatts of electricity from hydropower, 1,060 megawatts from the government’s thermal power plants and 9,677 from the IPPs, said the well-placed sources.

Meanwhile, several plants have been shut due to the shortage of oil, gas and coal, the sources added.

Due to the widening shortfall, several parts of the country are suffering 10 to 12 hours of loadshedding daily amid hot weather. However, the duration of loadshedding is more than 12 hours in areas carrying higher line losses.

Due to the unavailability of data, the schedule loadshedding procedure is not being applied, the sources added. In Karachi, the K-Electric, the sole power distribution company in the metropolis, is observing 9 to 10 hours loadshedding daily.

It is pertinent to mention that the government has said that the issue of loadshedding will be solved in the next couple of months.

Responding to a Geo News question last week, the finance minister had said the previous government did not make any agreement related to LNG and now "we are buying LNG at expensive rates, therefore, currently, it’s not possible to end load shedding as the national exchequer is empty."

“…but the maintenance process of 2500MW out of 7,500MW power plants has been started as these power plants were shut down during the tenure of the previous government,” he added.