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Friday March 29, 2024

Power report

By Editorial Board
February 01, 2018

While the government has continued to focus on recoveries from power consumers – even criminalising non-payment – it has continued to ignore the gross neglect that continues within the power generation and distribution cycles. Nepra has revealed that public-sector power generation companies (Gencos) have lost more than 15 billion units of electricity in the last two years. This would make for an estimated revenue of Rs150 billion. It is criminal that such neglect has gone unnoticed for so long. The losses are beyond the allowed limit of around 670 million units. Most of the losses were reportedly contributed by just one thermal power station in Muzaffargarh, which it itself merits a more detailed audit report to examine whether the power plant is still viable. Other gas-based power stations have been on standby mode for the last two years, which led to a loss of potential to generate viable electricity. Nepra has concluded that the poor state of affairs at Gencos is a product of equipment deterioration, lack of maintenance and insufficient technical expertise. One must wonder where – in all the rush to build new power plants – lies the future of these power plants.

The problem of standby generation capacity is a serious one. Pakistan simply does not have the distribution capacity to be able to distribute the electricity demand. This has led to a number of units being semi-permanently shut. But that does not mean that they do not end up costing the economy. The standby units themselves are consuming around 400 million units of electricity. According to Nepra, these standby units could have generated around 14 billion units, which is in addition to the 15 billion units lost by Gencos. With many of the new plants, the actual power availability is less than the guaranteed availability. This includes the Nandipur power plant that has already been the subject of much scandal. The worst performing power station in this regard is the Lakhra Power Station which shows only 25 percent availability. Much of the degeneration is a product of underuse. Some plants, such as the TPS Guddu, remained on unplanned outage mode throughout the year, which shows a lack of technical expertise to repair the problems – but it is also shows how little interest was taken in fixing the problems. Nepra’s recent report highlights how the malaise within power generation is fundamental to the power crisis in the country. One hopes this report doesn’t end up gathering dust on a bureaucrat’s table.