Every other day, the incumbent government comes up with an announcement to launch a power generation project which would add hundreds or thousands of megawatts to the country’s power generation capacity. These announcements are preceded and followed by costly media advertisements worth millions, and if these are to be believed, one is convinced that Pakistan will soon become a country with abundant energy.

Amid all these towering claims a reality check has come from none other than the Ministry of Water and Power. In a not-so-unexpected revelation, the ministry has expressed fears that the obsolete electricity transmission system of the country will collapse if more than 15,000 megawatts (MW) electricity is transmitted through it at one particular time. So, the question is what use will be this enhanced power generation capacity if there is no infrastructural support to transmit it across the country.

This disclosure has led to concerns among consumers who now believe the less than desired production of electricity throughout the year is also due to this handicap of electricity transmission network. While independent experts believe the installed generation capacity in the country is around 22,000 MW, the ministry claims the figure is exaggerated and the "reliable" capacity is to produce 19,000 MW.

One major reason why the government had to come out with this bitter truth was its inability to honour its commitment to provide uninterrupted power supply during sehar and iftar in the month of Ramazan. The State Minister for Water and Power, Abid Sher Ali, had no option but to confirm that they could not provide electricity to 25 to 30 per cent of country’s areas at iftar due to system constraints. The demand of electricity at this time rises to 20,000 MW, as stated by Nargis Sethi, the Secretary of Ministry of Water and Power.

Electricity transmission networks are maintained by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and distribution companies (Discos). "The NTDC is responsible for maintenance of high capacity transmission lines from 500 KV to 220 KV whereas Discos take care of lower capacity transmission lines, such as 132 KV and so on to provide electricity to consumers within their jurisdiction," says Colonel (retired) Rana Sajjad, spokesman of NTDC

NTDC operates and maintains twelve 500 KV and twenty nine 220 KV Grid Stations, 5,077 km of 500 KV transmission line and 7,359 km of 220 KV transmission line in Pakistan..

Though the general perception is that the whole infrastructure is outdated, experts claim the real fault lies with Discos which are unable to put things in order and upgrade the system periodically. There is also a counter argument that the system is able to carry load much higher than 15,000 MW and the government simply wants to shift the responsibility of power crisis to the previous government, which it says did not invest in the infrastructure.

A former top official in the state-owned power sector, who does not want to be identified, disagrees with the ministry’s claims and tells TNS that 4,000 MVA load-carrying capacity was added to NTDC’s infrastructure and 6,000 MVA to Discos all over the country in the last four years. Records, he says, show that 15,105 MW electricity was transmitted through this network in July 2014 when this additional capacity had not been added. "If this load could be handled at that time, then why not now with this added capacity?"

However, he confirms that successive governments have not invested in infrastructure. A proof of this, he says, is that not even a single rupee has been earmarked for this purpose from national budgets during the last 15 years. The new mantra of the government is that the consumers will have to pay. So, it takes loans mainly from three leading lenders -- World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) to upgrade power transmission system and shifts the burden of loan repayment to consumers through inflated bills.

Various studies carried out in the power sector show the trippings in the system are far excessive and can not be compared with any national or International standards. These trippings shorten life of equipment, resulting in frequent failures and financial burden on Wapda.

In the light of findings, there have been several suggestions, including that of reviewing transformer designs as, at present, moisture enters through poor gaskets due to breathing action of the transformers. Besides, it is suggested that overhead radial system be covered to avoid outages caused by wind, storms, lightning, falling tree branches and kites, etc. The loose connector joints on transformer bushings also result in heating and burning of jumpers and inside winding connections.

Nadeem Aftab Sindhu, former chairman, Board of Directors (BOD) Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company (Fesco) tells TNS that a lot of transmission-related problems are caused by theft of electric instruments, transmission lines, transformers, etc, and lack of surveillance. As there are hardly any replacements for stolen equipment, the consumers have to suffer for long. During his association with Fesco, he says, he took private companies on board who were supposed to provide Global Positioning Service (GPS) to discourage incidents of theft and their impact on transmission network.

Another major reason for power breakdowns, as cited by Wapda officials, is that there is no proper determination of actual load of each area as the installed transformers cannot bear the overloading and start tripping. It is expected of the applicants for new connections to declare actual load but they do not that. The end result is that there are over-loadings and low voltage problems in high electricity-consumption areas.

The former power sector official shares it with TNS that 72 per cent of the investment on upgrading transmission networks in the last 35 years has gone to Punjab whereas the remaining has been spent on other provinces. That is why the system collapses are more common in provinces other than Punjab and can be tackled by giving priority to these provinces.

The worst part of the story, he says, is that all the people looking after energy sector are non-technical and not familiar with the secrets of the trade. They include Khawaja Asif, Abid Sher Ali, Dr Musadiq (a pharmacist) and Nargis Sethi (a bureaucrat). These people, he says, are leaving technocrats behind -- thus creating resentment among hundreds of thousands of employees in the power sector.

Despite such conditions, the callousness of concerned authorities is clear. A proof of this is that funds provided by donors for purchase of transformers have lapsed and Abid Sher Ali has ordered an inquiry in this connection.

The shortage of transformers has also become an issue as the government and transformer producers are involved in litigation. In words of Abid Sher Ali, transformer manufacturers had formed cartel and were fleecing government. A transformer, which would cost Rs 600,000 in the past is available at Rs300,000 at the moment which he claims is a big breakthrough.