Sources told Dawn on Monday that the power sector was getting an average daily fuel supply of 20,000 tons against its requirement of 35,000 tons.—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: With Rs11 billion released by the federal government exhausted, generation companies of Wapda and independent power producers (IPPs) have started feeling the heat of cash constraints, resulting in re-emergence of loadshedding despite a reduction in demand.

Sources told Dawn on Monday that the power sector was getting an average daily fuel supply of 20,000 tons against its requirement of 35,000 tons. Some power plants are also facing gas shortages.

The federal cabinet last week approved some conservation measures, but the provinces were unable to implement them. It had taken a number of financial decisions to resolve circular debt during this week. According to Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), the electricity shortfall has again surged to 2,280MW, resulting in a countrywide loadshedding of about five hours.

The total generation stood at 12,675MW on Monday against a demand of 14,955MW. Wapda’s thermal power stations produced 1,533MW against a capacity of over 4,700MW, while IPPs generated 5,916MW and rental power projects 119MW.

Hydropower generation stood at 5,107MW against its capacity of about 6,500MW because of a reduction in irrigation demands by the provinces.

The sources said non-utilisation of full generation capacity by hydropower projects was because of reduction in water discharges from Tarbela to 50,000 cusecs since Oct 10 when releases stood at 81,000 cusecs. Releases from Mangla dam reduced from 32,000 cusecs to 27,000 cusecs.

According to the sources, the finance ministry refused to release more funds from the federal exchequer during this month, saying it had cleared tariff differential subsidy arrears and could not inject more money unless the cabinet took a final decision on resolution of circular debt at its forthcoming meeting.

With its outstanding receivables once again touching Rs153 billion, Pakistan State Oil has also stopped payments to local refineries to ensure retirement of letters of credit to foreign suppliers.

Sources in PSO said the company had not received any major amount from the power sector since the government provided Rs10 billion about two weeks ago, but it was continuing normal supplies of 20,000 tons per day despite the fact that the power sector paid paltry sums against daily supplies.

“There is no fuel supply curtailment to the power sector. There may be some problems in transit,” they said, adding that PSO might not be able to continue this supply if it did not receive substantial payments from the government.

As of Oct 17, PSO’s receivables from Wapda stood at Rs31 billion, while Hubco and Kapco owed Rs66 billion and Rs33 billion respectively to the fuel supplier. After including Rs6 billion receivables from Karachi Electric Supply Company and some other defaulters, the PSO’s total receivables stood at Rs154 billion.

On the other hand, PSO’s total payables amounted to Rs151 billion on Oct 17. Its payables to refineries stood at Rs66 billion.

Total payments to Kuwait Petroleum Company and other foreign suppliers stood at Rs82 billion.