ISLAMABAD: Conceding that the country had been in grip of the worst-ever electricity crisis over the past three days, Water and Power Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif apologised to the nation on Monday and expressed the hope that the God Almighty would bestow some relief in about two days and there would be a drop in temperatures.

“The last three days were the most difficult days in terms of power supply,” he said at a news conference, because of a reduction in power generation by about 1,500MW. With the supply of 15,000MW and demand at 19,000 to 20,000MW, there is a gap of 6,000 to 7,000MW.

Khawaja Asif said Punjab had suffered the most because five distribution companies operating in the province have struggled to ease the crisis and failed to implement federal government’s instructions to reduce supply. The situation had led to forced loadshedding in some areas, including Islamabad, he added.

The minister, who was accompanied by Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali and Secretary Nargis Sethi, said that supply from nine companies which had faced trippings, including Hubco, Allai Khwar and Khan Khwar, had been restored while a transformer in Lahore would take some time to be re-energised.

Minister apologises to nation over prolonged outages

He admitted that the promise made to the nation that there would be no loadshedding during Iftar, Sehr and Taraveeh had been difficult to keep and warned that a similar crisis could re-emerge if the current heat wave continued. He said the energy shortage could not be overcome in one or two years.

He said power projects taken up by the government would be completed in three years when about 6,000-7,000MW would be added to the national grid.

Answering a question, the minister said the national grid’s transmission lines of above 220kv were in good shape but those of below 220kv were in “extremely poor condition” which would be difficult to overhaul in 12 to 18 months.

He said it was a miracle that the authorities had been able to keep supply at up to 15,500MW which otherwise had never gone beyond 12,500MW in recent years.

Khawaja Asif said that while criticising the government, the media should appreciate that it had been providing uninterrupted power supply to industries for three shifts which had now been reduced over a couple of days to two shifts. In the process, residential consumers also sometimes suffer.

“There were protests during the corresponding period last year, but there is no such situation at present,” he claimed.

He said the power ministry had sought 114mmcfd of additional gas for power generation which it did not get but in the process it had to give up another 50mmcfd to provide relief to domestic consumers.

The minister appealed to consumers to conserve energy. “People are wasting a lot of energy which is a criminal act in view of severity of the situation,” he said, adding that consumption patterns did not suggest that the country was facing an energy crisis.

He said that circular debt had again swelled to Rs285 billion because of the authorities’ failure to curb power theft and line losses. Honest consumers are suffering the effect of thefts. He said the government had framed short-, medium and long-term plans to end loadshedding.

Khawaja Asif said that it was not possible for the government to remove deficiencies in the system. “The circular debt has surged to Rs280-300bn again and the government has decided not to provide electricity to defaulters,” he said, adding that there was an immediate need to recover power bills.

He said circular debt would continue to increase if line losses and power theft were not controlled. Sindh has to pay Rs57bn in power arrears, Balochistan Rs 106bn, Punjab Rs 12bn and AJK Rs37bn. AJK is getting electricity from the federal government at Rs2.50 per unit but selling it to consumers at Rs11.

The minister said the Indus River System Authority had refused to give water indent which resulted in a decline in hydel power generation. The government is trying to maintain balance in energy mix to avoid burdening consumers.

He said the Nandipur power plant had not been shut down. “We have to operate the plant on diesel at higher cost and, therefore, we are operating it for limited time,” he said, adding that the plant would be operated on gas with the beginning of LNG import by the end of this year.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2014