ISLAMABAD: The electricity demand touched a new high of 16,500MW on Wednesday.

“We have noticed an increase of 1,700MW in the peak demand on May 5 over the same period last year,” said an official of the water and power ministry. “The domestic consumption has also increased, but it has not peaked yet,” he said.

Rising temperature, increased use of air-conditioners and a rise in industrial activities have pushed up the demand.

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On May 5, the average generation reached 12,817MW before peaking at 13,700MW as against 9,922MW and 10,800MW during the corresponding period last year.

The generation has also gone up by 2,895MW, but it is still behind the demand.

According to a ministry official, the increased generation had helped to reduce loadshedding hours to some extent.

Currently, loadshedding for urban consumers was for 6 hours, for rural areas 8 hours and industry 4-6 hours.

On May 5 last year, the loadshedding in urban areas was for 6 hours, rural areas for 12 hours and industry for 4-8 hours.

“We have met the increased demand and also reduced the scheduled loadshedding hours because of improving generation,” the official said.

One of the reasons for increased generation this year was 2,500MW generated by Gencos as against 1,700MW to 1,800MW over the past decade. “The refurbishing of Gencos’ plants has helped to increase the generation,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2015

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