KARACHI: Power utilities have not come up with a long-term strategy to overcome the energy shortage and are adopting only short-term measures to do the job.

The uninterrupted power supply is considered must for smooth functioning of industries and commercial activities for not only achieving economic growth but also to provide relief to the 160 million plus population presently agitating against the long power outages and inflated monthly bills.

Unfortunately, warning calls by the experts from time to time about the looming power crisis have gone on deaf ears and the economic wizards of the successive governments made no plans to overcome the crisis on a permanent basis. The new coalition government seems more focussed on attempts to stabilise it rather concentrating on solutions to the most important economic challenges.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf and managing directors of Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC) and Pakistan Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) did not respond to the messages left by Dawn as they were reluctant to share views on options how to improve the power situation.

Water and Power Development Authority chairman Shakeel Durrani talking to Dawn from Lahore suggested that reducing the line losses through improved distribution and monitoring system might help ease financial stress on the utility letting it undertake setting up new projects on urgent basis to tackle power shortage.

“Line losses stand around 24 per cent of total electricity generation of the utility and “if we cut it by one per cent it will save Rs4 billion for Pakistan Electric Power Company Limited (Pepco).

Answering a question he said that the record high oil prices of above $126 per barrel had minimised the chances of reducing local power tariffs in the near future because thermal power constituted 70 per cent of total power generation of the country. However, he said by increasing the hydel power generation, which has about 30 per cent share, power rates could be brought down. Hydel power per unit cost ranged between Rs1.50 to Rs1.90 whereas the thermal power costs Rs4 to Rs8 per unit.

He added that there were plans to add about 25,000MW of hydel power to the national grid and some of the projects had been finalised. Work on Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project was in progress.

He said that rental power plants, which usually take six to seven months to generate electricity, could be the second option to partially overcome the energy crisis in the near-term. The government has already given its consent to import such plants.He also stressed the need for aggressive recovery of outstanding dues of Wapda, which may provide fiscal space to initiate new projects.

Munawar Baseer, managing director Pakistan Power Company (Pepco) told Dawn that in current scenario the best option would be an effective load management with conservation measures, which may help easing the ongoing power crisis, but it would not be a lasting solution.

He said when he took over the helms of affair at Pepco he drew up a plan to cope with the crisis and it delivered as conservation measures saved around 800MW. This somehow helped reduce in load-shedding duration.

He said that four rental power projects (200MW, 125MW and two of 150MW) were approved, but the new government wasn’t offering guarantees for opening letters of credit (LCs) owing to fiscal deficit.

He added that four more rental power projects of combined capacity of 1,200MW were in the pipeline.He said the major cause behind the power mess was increase in per unit cost of power generation following record high oil prices and non payment of over Rs200 billion to Pepco by the KESC, FATA and federal/provincial departments.

Answering a question about nuclear power, which has a negligible share of about two per cent in power generation, he said this was an ideal option despite the fact that establishing nuclear plants was a very costly and time-taking exercise. However it would definitely ensure cheaper supply of electricity to masses on sustained basis.

The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) has rehabilitated its plants and added 170MW besides setting up a new plant of 220MW, which will be operative this year in Korangi. It will improve supplies and cut duration of power outages,” said a KESC official, requesting anonymity.

He said that the massive line losses were a drain on the resources of the utility company, which has successfully reduced these losses from 34.4 per cent to 30 per cent during the last nine months. Cutting line losses by one per cent fetched Rs850 million to the company in one year.