ISLAMABAD: Special arrangements have been made by the government to ensure smooth and uninterrupted supply of electricity to domestic consumers at Sehr, Iftar and during Taravih prayers, the Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power was informed here on Monday.

The committee, presided over by Senator Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, was further informed by Water and Power Secretary Yunus Dagha that there would be load-shedding of around eight and a half hours daily for the industrial sector.

“Urban domestic consumers are the first priority during Ramazan followed by rural domestic consumers,” the committee was informed.

He also told the committee that not only domestic consumption had increased significantly but even in mosques air conditioners had been installed and because of this consumption of electricity during Taravih prayers would be high.

The committee was informed that in the current month average electricity generation in the country was 16,280MW whereas the demand was around 20,500MW.

Members of the committee criticised prolonged load-shedding in rural areas. Mr Dagha told the committee that load-shedding would end by June 2018, as the current installed capacity of around 20,000MW would be raised to 31,000MW.

The increase includes an addition of 630MW and 200MW from wind and solar generation, respectively, by the end of Dec 2016.

Senator Taj Haider inquired why the government was not abolishing generation licences of those companies which were not producing power according to their installed capacity and why it was not allowing the private sector and even provinces to establish their own power plants for localised consumption.

“If an industrial area of Karachi wants to set up a power plant for their own non-stop electricity supply or if two villages seek to establish a power plant of their own for their local consumption, why do they need stringent procedures and clearance from the federal government?” he asked.

The government should allow this practice to overcome the load-shedding problem as this will end the monopoly of some power sector companies like K-Electric in Karachi.

Senator Haider was told by Mr Dagha that a new policy was in the offing and it would allow provinces to set up their own electricity regulatory bodies and abolish power generation licences.

“But we want to ensure that some quality standard mechanism was followed at all levels,” the federal secretary said.

The committee discussed several issues, including circular debt, as officials said that it had been capped.

“It was Rs320 billion in October 2014 and it was still at Rs318bn now,” said Mr Dagha.

However, senators said that it was mainly because of the reduction in power generation cost as the price of furnace oil had dropped significantly in the international market.

The National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill, 2016, was presented to the committee. It was approved by the federal cabinet and the National Assembly in 2009.

The bill deals with Enercon and establishment of its board, but Senator Noman Wazir said that there were several flaws in the bill and it was bureaucracy-centric.

“The real stakeholders, including electronic items manufacturers, Engineering Development Board, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority etc should be part of the Enercon board,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016

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