Authorities unsure of how much power shortfall exists in country
Officials concerned have been giving varying figures about the power shortfall.
(Web desk) - With people attacking grid stations in the country, the load shedding issue has gone out of hand in Pakistan. In cities, there is load shedding of 8-10 hours while villages are experiencing power outages for 12 hours.
The high temperatures have added to the suffering of the people. Moreover, miseries of the people have doubled because majority of the people are fasting. Even with such a deteriorating situation, authorities are still unsure about how much power shortfall exists in the country.
Officials from WAPDA and National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) have been giving varying figures to the media about the power shortfall that exists in the country.
According to WAPDA, the power shortfall is 4000 MW while NTDC has put the gap between demand and supply at 6000 MW.
According to officials of the Ministry of Water and Power, the power production is 16,400 MW, while the demand for electricity is 20,400 MW. On the other hand, NTDC officials have said that production is 15,200 MW while demand is 21,200 MW.
According to an NTDC official, the power breakdown is such that hydropower production is 5,000 MW, production by IPPs is 7,700 MW, while production by GENCOs is 2,500 MW.
The country has recently witnessed numerous protests against load shedding. Last week, workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf forcibly entered a grid station and turned on power to high-loss areas.
Meanwhile, Karachi suffered massive power outages on the first day of Ramazan, contrary to the claims put forth by power supply companies that there won’t be any load shedding in Ramazan.
Just today, a protest in Malakand turned violent as Levies officials opened fire on protestors, resulting in one death and injuries to five people.
The elimination of load shedding was an integral part of the election rhetoric of the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Leaders of the party had claimed that they would eliminate load shedding by 2018. Initially, it had seemed that the party would fulfill its promises when it got rid of the circular debt and the pending bills to power producers. Moreover, according to the agreements signed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, 16,000 MW were to be added to the national grid in the future.
But the power shortfall has emerged again, with average load shedding times reaching 10-12 hours. Whatever the reasons, financial or logistical, it seems the government is not aware of them as officials are not even sure about the amount of power shortfall.
With 2018 and the next general elections approaching fast, and protests against load shedding increasing day by day, the election prospects of PML-N will most likely be affected by the issue of load shedding.
