LAHORE (February 07 2009): Power shortage has come down to 1000 MW from 4,500 mw on February 4, but chances of further reduction in power shortage are bleak ahead until new plants are in place. Sources in Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) said that power shortage of 1000 mw would stay throughout the year ahead until new power generation resources are functional.
They said that chances of new induction to the power generation system were not possible before the start of next calendar year. The country has experienced worst ever power shortage during last few months. It touched the highest level of 4,500 mw in January that affected the industrial growth badly, resulting in large-scale unemployment and machinery closures in production units.
The government noticed the situation fast when both the industrialists and the labourers came out on the streets and took the law into their hands in Faisalabad. The government, though, blamed PML-N for sponsoring the riots in Faisalabad but still it instructed the power sector to change its priority on supplying power. As per new arrangement, the industry was given priority against domestic consumers, resulting in improvement in power supply to industrial sector.
Pepco sources said that reduction in power shortage from 4,500 mw to 1000 mw was possible only due to the release of 25,000 cusecs water at Mangla and Tarbela dams each. They added that the independent power producers (IPPs) were also fully operational with minor closures, producing around 4000 mw electricity at present. Also, the oil supply issue has also been resolved and all power plants are operational fully.
According to Pepco sources, the duration of power outage has also reduced by two to three hours for domestic consumers with improvement in power supply. They said the system was supplying 10,000 mw electricity against the demand of 11,000 mw. Meanwhile, Pepco officials expressed hope that power supply to industrial sectors, particularly the textile sector, would stay on priority against domestic consumers.
