October 07, 2008	Tuesday	Shawwal 7, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 6: The Peshawar Electric Supply Company has resumed four to six hours daily loadshedding in NWFP, affecting once again the routine of its over 2.1 million consumers.

The public utility worked out the new schedule for ‘load management’ here on Monday that would be implemented with immediate effect, an official told Dawn.

According to the new schedule, power supply across the Frontier province will remain suspended for one hour in four to six intervals through which the authorities will balance the gap between demand and supply.

The official said that National Power Control Centre, an Islamabad-based body responsible for regulating the loadshedding throughout the country, had communicated the daily shortfall quota to Pesco following which the new phase of power outages would commence in the province.

Pesco would face an average shortfall of 600MW daily that would be met through loadshedding in different intervals, the official explained.

The consumers got some relief in the month of Ramazan, as expect technical faults power supply remained uninterrupted across the province.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued here on Monday, Pesco attributed change in the ‘climate’ as the main factor behind the resumption of loadshedding across the province. But the consumers wondered that how the public utility managed smooth power supply in Ramazan, wherein the weather was warmer.

A source in Pesco, however, informed that decrease in power generation by the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and hydropower was the main factor behind resumption of loadshedding across the country.

The IPPs have decreased power generation to contain their oil imports bill, whereas the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), which supervises distribution of irrigation water among the provinces, was not releasing enough water for hydropower generation mainly to save water for forthcoming crop season that also affect generation.

A spokesperson of Pesco asked the consumers to extend their cooperation and conserve energy to overcome the current crisis. He said complying with energy conservation measures would help decrease the duration of loadshedding.

As per the energy conservation guidelines, the consumers were asked to contain power consumption during peak hours ranging from 5pm to 11pm. Similarly, closing down all commercial shopping centers by 8pm, saving of at least 25 per cent energy by the industrial consumers, switching of entire street lights alternatively and utilisation of energy savers instead of bulbs were the main steps envisaged in the new advisory.