ISLAMABAD: Though the government has achieved the milestone of increasing the electricity generation by up to 19,253MW, but still there is no let up in the loadshedding to the end consumers which raises the eyebrows.
However, the well placed sources said that the demand of electricity had jumped to close to 26,000MW with mercury ranging from 40-52 centigrade in various parts of the country and this was the main reason the countrymen were still experiencing the loadshedding of 10-14 hours in many urban and rural parts of the country. However, the government is still adamant to claim that the power outages of 4-6 hours are being experienced as it has worked out the demand side at 22,000MW.
The resonance about faulty figures of electricity generation supply and demand also figured out in the Senate and NA committees on Water and Power and their members have raised the questions arguing if the supply side is on the rise, then why people are not getting the solace.
The much-touted Bhikki LNG fueled power plant, earlier inaugurated by PM on April 18, 2017 and injected 734MW in the system now faces closure. Likewise, the gas turbine of 385MW Haveli Badur Shah LNG power plant also based on LNG was switched on is also closed down. The reason of their closure is being told officially that the plants are too much modern and are of first kind installed in Pakistan and facing some technical faults in synchronisation and it will take some time to get rectified, reveals one of the cabinet members to The News. He said that this is the main reason that LNG supply to Bhikki and Haveli Badur Shah plants has been halted and diverted to KAPCO (Kot Addu Power plant). However, the minister claims that about 6,000MW will be injected by November this year heralding zero free Pakistan. When asked if the system constraint are not taken care of on time, then what will be the scenario, the minister said that the government is on toes to strengthen the system and by December this year, the transmission and distribution system will be strong enough to carry the additional load of 7,000-8,000MW. Fatima Energy and Gulf Power are also currently generating zero electricity.
The sources said that the government was currently running all electricity generation plants including the inefficient plants owing to which the electricity generation had reached up to 19,253MW. Out of 19,253MW, three Chashma nuclear power plants are currently injecting in the system 920MW of nuclear electricity, Sahiwal coal power plant 1,160MW, Nandipur Power Plant 413MW. The hydro generation stands at over 6,000MW with IPPs and Gencos' output of 13,250MW of electricity in the system.
However, the experts say that the system is beset with a lot of inefficiencies owing to which the circular debt is not being controlled. The line losses and failure of 100 percent electricity bills are the main source of incessant growth in the circular debt which has again increased to over Rs450 billion. They say that the more generation of electricity will increase volume of circular debt more. The imposition of tariff rationalisation surcharge of Rs1.43 per unit on electricity bills and debt servicing surcharge of Rs0.43 per unit has also not helped to contain the circular debt within the limit agreed with IMF showing how inefficient power sector is.
