LAHORE: Power planners are deliberately keeping close to 4,000MW available capacity shut to produce only 10,000MW against the national demand of 14,000MW, forcing the people to experience over eight hours of loadshedding and the industry for six hours during peak hours.

According to Monday’s (Feb 17) data of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), it has been keeping six plants (Halmore, Saif, Orient, AES Pakgen and partly Muzaffargar and Hubco), with a total generation capacity of 1,931MW into hibernation for over a week now.

Apart from these six plants, seven others (Kapco, AES Lalpir, Saba, Japan, Saphire, Sepcol and Hubco), are either totally or partially working much below their actual capacity because of non-availability of fuel and, therefore, adding another 1,909MW shortfall, taking the total power shortage to over 4,000MW.

“The stated logic of keeping the capacity idle is that the government wants to save the money; the difference of cost of production and sale,” says a former head of Pepco.

This policy may make some sense for the domestic consumers, but certainly not for the industry. The domestic sector has some slabs which have to be subsidised for social reasons. Now even the domestic sector, apart from lifeline consumers, by and large pays the cost of production as the government has withdrawn subsidies on most of the slabs. But keeping the industry closed during the peak hours hurts everyone; the industry and the power sector. It hurts the industrial production without saving anything for the power sector. The industry pays between Rs16 and Rs21 per unit, the former as normal tariff and latter as peak hours’ tariff. Thus, by keeping the plants shut during peak hours, the sector is actually depriving itself of the highest slab of revenue.

“The planners need to run these plants for the industry during the peak hours because it pays more than the cost of production,” the former Pepco head insisted. The policy thus needed to be reversed for the industry at least, he said.

“Apart from production, the industrial sector is also suffering from diversion of fuel to much less efficient plants at the cost of more efficient ones,” says a former member (power) of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).

There are four plants near Lahore, which supposedly generate electricity at 52 per cent fuel efficiency. Against these plants, fuel, as shown by Monday’s data sheet, is being diverted to those plants which work at half of that line of efficiency. This also needs to be checked and corrected if found right. The ministry needs to take holistic view of the situation and divert its resources where they benefit the most; to all, the national economy, the power sector and the people. In its current setting, there are some big lacunae that need to be bridged for better efficiency and financial benefits, he said.