ISLAMABAD, June 20: The electricity shortfall in the country has declined to about 163MW mainly because of increase in hydel generation and fall in temperatures, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The power supply on Wednesday peaked at 13,335MW against a demand of 13,498MW, leaving a shortfall of 163MW, said the statement issued after a meeting presided over by Minister for Water and Power Liaqat Ali Jatoi.

The shortfall had surged to 2,900MW early last week when temperatures touched this year’s peak amid closure of more than two dozen units of the power stations. The demand was computed at 17,421 MW on Tuesday last against maximum supply of about 14,530MW.

The meeting was informed that the hydel generation has increased from 5,000MW to 5,600MW and thermal from 2,600 to 2,800MW, in addition to maximum generation by the independent power producers (IPPs).

The ministry said there was surplus capability of power generation on Monday and Tuesday as more units started production on the back of higher releases for irrigation and a simultaneous drop in temperatures. It said the load management in some parts of the country under Wapda system was only due to distribution problems.The meeting was also informed that Wapda was providing up to 800MW of electricity to the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) in peak hours against its commitment of 600MW. The statement said there was no more load shedding in Karachi as its 180MW Bin Qasim plant was back in production from Tuesday but some areas might be facing some problems because of distribution issues, necessary repairs and overloading of transmission system.

THERMAL POWER PLANT: Meanwhile, Sapphire Electric Company Limited (SECL) on Wednesday announced to have achieved financial close for its 225MW thermal power plant to be situated at Muridke.