Country would plunge into darkness if system overloaded: Abid

FAISALABAD: Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali has regretted the unannounced loadshedding on the first day of Ramazan, saying if the system was loaded the country would plunge into darkness because the national grid did not have the capacity to sustain a load of more than 16,000MW.
He said that efforts would be made to ensure that unannounced loadshedding would not arise in the future.He warned that factories would face the music if they were found operating during sehri and iftar timings.
While giving a briefing to media persons on the cause of loadshedding on the first day of fasting at the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) on Saturday morning, he expressed his surprise over loadshedding in Karachi despite an uninterrupted power supply of 650MW from the national grid to K-Electric.
“The 650MW to K-Electric is being supplied despite the fact that the agreement with the power company has ceased. The ongoing power cuts and loadshedding in the port city, even with continuous supply from the national grid, are surprising,” he said.
He said that power demand across the country stood at 21,500MW on Friday and the system had been fed with 16,000MW, he said, adding that if more electricity was added to the system, it might have collapsed due to its poor capacity and the country might have plunged into darkness.
Interestingly, the minister was still chairing a meeting at the Fesco office, when a sudden power breakdown marred the gathering, causing embarrassment to everyone attending the meeting.