October 09, 2007	Tuesday	Ramazan 26, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 8: The government’s failure to install new power units has widened the gap between electricity consumption and production in the last few years, an official report says.

The total installed generation capacity in 2005-06 stood at 20,949MW, which was a mere 16 per cent increase since 1999-2000.

The Census of Electricity Establishment (CEE), 2005-06, report compiled by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) showed that the installation capacity of electricity generation had stagnated to around 20,000MW.

This situation will worsen when figures for the year 2006-07 will be published next year in the aftermath of the worst kind of electricity shortage in the country.

Domestic consumers could face a crippling scenario in the coming years, with loadshedding of up to six and 10 hours per day.

The CEE covered all public and private sector electricity establishments engaged in generation, transmission and distribution, including hydel, thermal or nuclear in the 2005-06 report.

The report revealed that growth in installation capacity was between 0.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent during the last two years against more than 11 per cent growth in consumption of electricity.

The failure to install new units would pose a serious energy crisis in the coming years if the government did not take immediate measures, including exploration of other avenues for power generation.

The report, however, claimed that electricity generation had increased to 96,478 million kWh during 2005-06 against 88,379 million kWh in the previous year, showing a growth rate of 9.2 per cent. Electricity generation grew at around five per cent during the last three years, excluding one year in which it was recorded at more than 9 per cent.

Apart from failure to increase electricity capacity, the government had failed to stop the steady increase in transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. The T&D losses increased to 22,521 million kWh in the year 2005-06 against 17,664 kWh in 1999-2000.

The losses stood at around 24.3 per cent of the total electricity generation.

Analysts suggested checks on the staggering losses, up gradation of distribution networks and strict action against power theft.

During the year under review in the report, electricity generated from all sources was 96,478 million kWh. This included generation from Wapda, KESC, IPPs and captive units showing an increase of 9.2 per cent over the previous year.

The total electricity consumption during 2005-06 stood at 70,241 million kWh as compared to 63,298 Million kWh in the year 2004-05 showing an increase of 11 per cent.