LAHORE, Dec 29: The nation braced itself on Friday for an unseasonable loadshedding as the power authorities played the blame game over a shortfall of 1,800mw. The Wapda did not come up with a plausible explanation for resorting to loadshedding even in winter.

Whereas the total demand in summer was 13,000 megawatts, the average demand these days is just 10,108MW.

Although the loadshedding announcement does not apply to Karachi, officials said the metropolis, too, would have to make do with a power cut since the Wapda had informed the KESC that it would not be able to maintain a supply of 600MW.

The Wapda on Friday again blamed the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) for the squeeze. The SNGPL hit back, contending that it was meeting all its contractual obligations and that Wapda must do “some soul-searching”.

Amid the shouting match, the country has to come to grips with an 18 per cent power deficit, and a corresponding loadshedding. Although a Wapda statement said that it would be `managing load for 30 minutes on every feeder’, it did not mention how many times a day. If 18 per cent shortage is a yardstick, the management may resort to loadshedding at least three times a day during peak hours. The brunt of the shortfall would be passed on to rural areas.

Commenting on the crisis, Anwer Khalid, a Wapda official, said stoppage of gas supply had cost the authority a `decisive’ 700MW. The authority always faces shortage in hydel generation in December and January, but has never faced a gas crisis during these months. “This has affected power generation at Faisalabad, Multan, Shahdara and Kot Addu.”

Mr Khalid said as Wapda was not even getting the required amount of furnace oil, it had ordered the import of 50,000 tons. “The situation will ease once the oil arrives and the weather eases.”

The SNGPL denied Wapda’s allegation.

ANOTHER VIEW: A Wapda official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that that his organisation was not `painting the true picture because of obvious reasons’.