DISCOs given March deadline for zero load-shedding

ISLAMABAD: Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, the federal minster for power division, on Thursday tasked the distribution companies (DISCOs) to bring load-shedding and power losses down to zero by the end of March.

“After closing the demand and supply gap, it was even more important for the DISCOs to ensure smooth power supply consumers during summer,” Leghari said while handing down directions all the heads of the departments under the power division.

Leghari stressed on the power distribution companies to bring more consumer areas, based on the percentage of losses, under the zero load-shedding regime, as the system was overflowing with surplus power.

Following the power minister’s direction, the ministry of power said in a statement, all the DISCOs commissioned the establishment of ‘Constraint Removal War Rooms’ (CRWRs) to deal with distribution-related chokepoints on a war footing.

“A special monitoring cell has also been appointed by Pakistan Electric Power Company to execute the constraint-removal process, enabling the enforcement of zero load-shedding and power losses ranging from 0 to 10 percent at all the feeders in the country by the end of March,” the statement said.

The ministry said these CRWRs would be equipped with close circuit television (CCTV) cameras connected with a centralised monitoring system via telecommunication link of Power Information Technology Company (PITC) as the minister would personally supervise and oversee the execution of timelines. “Leghari will have direct access to the CCTV camera feed through a smartphone,” the statement said adding that the minister would also visit different constraints points to have first-hand knowledge of the situation and take further action.

The ministry further said on the special directions of the power minister, the PEPCO and all the DISCOs had assessed and taken technical surveys of their existing distribution network, identifying points of constraints at 132K, 66KV, 11KV and distribution transformers.