- Electricity shortfall currently stands between 6,000MW to 8,000MW
ISLAMABAD: Contrary to the claims of the water and power ministry regarding electricity demand and shortfall, the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) has unveiled that country had been experiencing electricity shortfall from 6000MW to 8000 MW as electricity demand has surged to 24,577MW.
Interestingly, it’s been a long time that the ministry has been presenting fudged figures pertaining to electricity demand and shortfall to the masses and Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. However, the NTDC has now exposed the reality by disclosure of the prevailing actual power situation of the country.
The prime minister expressed displeasure over the briefing of the power ministry about latest power situation of the country and directed for the minimum load shedding in the Ramzan.
A copy of official documents of the NTDC, available with Pakistan Today, disclosed that latest electricity demand has surged to 24,000MW in the country. The NTDC said that the ministry has fixed electricity quotas for the power distributing companies (DISCOs) on the basis of the power demand.
Sources in the ministry said that the power ministry has been presenting a shortfall of 3,000MW to 4,000MW on the basis of a so-called demand of the electricity. They said the NTDC system has remained unable to endure the load of such huge difference between power generation and its demand.
Even, unannounced power outages have not provided relief to the transmission system, highlighted by the events of tripping in the transmission lines for many times with the start of summer season. Around 2500MW power is not being produced due to an unavailability of furnace oil and gas to the power sector, sources said.
The sources further informed that three officers of the National Power Control Center (NPCC) had knowledge of the reality of the demand for the electricity. However, the actual facts and figures of electricity demand, generation and shortfall had been kept secret from the masses and opposition parties only to avoid criticism. They said due to a huge difference in demand and generation of electricity, provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh have been experiencing severe power crisis leading to hours-long power cuts. At present, country’s power production is around 16,000MW in the country, the sources added.
It is also learnt that former Secretary of Water and Power, Yunus Dhaga, has failed to satisfy the prime minister over various questions on electricity generation, its demand and current shortfall, during the recent Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCE) meetings. The premier expressed serious displeasure over such unethical attitude.
Sources told that a principal secretary to the PM has collected actual figures of electricity demand, its production, shortfall and the duration of load shedding with its own sources, and these collected facts and figures were entirely different from what the power ministry presented before the PM during the course of last two meetings.
The documents of NTDC also revealed that masses were facing hardships also due to the low capacity of the grid stations. At present, there are 40 grid stations of 220KV with a total capacity of 26,763MVA.
To avoid tripping and ensure uninterrupted power supply, construction of 10 new grid stations was in the process which upon completion would add 7,110MVA to the 220 KV grid stations of the country. Similarly, there are 16 grid stations of 500KV with total installed capacity of 19,824MVA, and two more grid stations of 500KV are under construction to avoid tripping problems in the future.
Water & Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday claimed that country’s electricity generation has increased to 18,562MW.
The minister is used to make tall claims about power generation and later asks for apology from the masses over inconvenience. The water and power minister has also attended the last two meetings of CCE and faced the disgruntled PM over presenting a rosy picture of country’s energy state.
