LAHORE: Contrary to government claims, the actual power shortfall in the country has swelled up to over 10,000MW these days, forcing the power distribution companies (Discos) to go for 10 to 12 hours loadshedding in urban and 12 to 16 hours in rural areas, besides forced shutdowns owing to an overloaded system.

The situation in Balochistan is worst where the rural areas are being supplied electricity for only six hours a day, while the rural or semi-rural areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are facing about 16 hours of loadshedding daily.

However, the situation in urban and rural areas of Sindh seems better where the officials claim six to eight hours of loadshedding in urban and eight to nine hours in rural areas. But, the demand, supply and shortfall data, according to senior Discos’ officials, negates these claims.

According to Quetta Electricity Supply Company’s Chief Executive Officer Mr Baleeghuz Zaman, the Qesco faces about 970MW shortfall these days. “Our demand is 1,600MW, but we are receiving 630MW. So, we have to resort to six hours loadshedding in Quetta, 12 hours at other district headquarters and 18 hours in the rural areas,” he told Dawn.

He said due to non-replacement of outdated 220KV Dadu-Khuzdar and Khuzdar-Looralai transmission lines, the system couldn’t bear the electricity supply over 700MW.

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In Sindh, Sukkar Electricity Supply Company needs 1,150MWs on average, but it is being supplied just 750MW.

“The demand and supply varies with weather. These days are tough, as we are facing a shortfall of about 400MW on average,” Sepco CEO Munawar Nazir Abbasi said.

He said the situation could be improved if the government deputed experienced people in Discos who could efficiently handle the load management system. He claimed the situation in Sindh was better than that of Punjab and other provinces, as experienced officials were involved in load management there.

The Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (Hesco) is perhaps the only disco which faces a shortfall of just 200MW to 250MW alone. “Our demand and supply on average is 1,000MW and 700 to 800MW. And you can say that we have a shortfall of 200 to 250, resulting in about four hours outages in Hyderabad and six hours in rural areas through 408 feeders,” says Muhammad Sadiq, Hesco public relations deputy manager.

In Punjab, the situation seems to be out of control where cities, towns and villages continue to face worst loadshedding, besides forced shutdowns, tripping, low voltage and power fluctuations etc on a daily basis.

According to a senior official of the Lahore Electricity Supply Company, Lesco’s demand on Sunday touched 4,900MW, whereas the supply remained at 2,775MW.

“So we are facing a shortfall of 2,100MW to 2200MW these days, resulting in seven to eight hours loadshedding in Lahore and 8 to 10 hours in other districts falling under Lesco,” he claimed while requesting anonymity. When asked about reported loadshedding of 10 to 12 hours in Lahore and 14 to 16 hours in its adjoining districts and the rural areas, the official said it was due to system that had been overloaded for the last many days.

Gujranawala Electricity Supply Company (Gepco) faces a shortfall of around 1,200MW after its demand surged to 2,300MW. “Our average demand is 2,300MW, while we are being supplied 1,100MW or so,” Shaukat Gill, Gepco director (operations) said. He said Gepco was forced to cut industry’s supply and divert it to domestic consumers in a bid to give relief to public.

The situation in Faisalabad is also not good, where Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company faces a shortfall of around 1,300MW. “We need 2,900MW, but we are being supplied 1,600MW these days,” Fesco CEO Khurshid Alam said.

South Punjab is also in grip of worst loadshedding, as the total demand of Multan Electricity Supply Company (Mepco) has surged to 3,900MW. “As we are being supplied 1,700MW to 1,800MW on average, we are facing a shortfall of over 2,100MW these days, forcing us to enhance loadshedding,” Mian Yousuf, a senior Mepco official told this reporter.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an official of the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) said the company was facing a shortfall of about 7,00MW these days. “Our demand is 2,500MW to 2,600MW and the supply is 1,900MW to 2,000MW,” Shaukat Afzal said.

Tribal Areas Electricity Supply Company (Tesco) faces a shortfall of about 1,50MWs against its total demand of 300MW, according to an official.

Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco) is in the grip of 1,000MW shortfall these days after its demand surged to 2,200MW to 2,400MW for the last couple of days. According to Mr Fayyaz Siddiqui, Iesco director (operations), the company was getting 1,200MW to 1,400MW on average. He said since Iesco system was neither outdated nor overloaded, it could manage it well.

Another Iesco official said the public should not be kept in dark. “The government should admit there is a huge electricity shortfall and heavy loadshedding has to be resorted to across the country. There is no harm in speaking truth rather than giving wrong information to the nation,” the official, who requested anonymity, added.

A National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) spokesman claimed the company was not receiving the data related to power generation, demand and shortfall from the quarters concerned for the last couple of days.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2014