Summer will be difficult, warns Iesco

Islamabad : The spokesperson for the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco), Raja Asim, said that while people are facing a couple of hours of power outages in Islamabad during this winter, it would be the summer that is going to be difficult this time because of the prevailing critical economic conditions.

Replying to a question regarding the ongoing load-shedding and the reasons behind it, the Iesco spokes­person said that it is not loadshedding but ‘load management’ by Iesco.

He said that the winter demand of Iesco was calculated at 1,187 MW whereas the company is getting 1,100 MW, resulting in a shortage of 87 MW. During the summer months, the demand increases to 2,400 to 2,600 MW.

“There is a laid down criteria to carry out power load management to minimise public discomfort. Iesco always announces a prior schedule of ‘load-management’ in the impacted areas for awareness of the general public,” Raja Asim said.

For the reasons behind this electricity shortage, he said that the annual winter maintenance of hydro-power generation units in Tarbella and Mangla mainly as well as controlled discharge of water from these water reservoirs for the purpose of cleaning and repairing country-wide irrigation canals system result in low power generation.

“Besides, there are over 1,300 grid stations that also need regular maintenance, an activity which also causes short-term power outages in the areas under these grid stations. There are sometimes accidental power breakdowns also, which are quickly repaired and power supply restored,” Raja Asim said.

When asked whether the inability to import LNG (re-liquefied natural gas) and furnace oil to run power generation units could be a reason behind the prevailing power shortage in the country, the Iesco spokesperson said that he was unable to comment on this because this is a federal government subject.