ISLAMABAD, Feb 26: Wapda is losing around Rs10.5 million every day owing to low power production from Mangla and Tarbela dams.

Sources at Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) told Dawn on Wednesday that the overall had gone beyond Rs2 billion mark this year.

The sources said operation cost of power production from Mangla dam was only three paisa per unit (Kwh) while other costs amounted to 15 paisa per unit.

Similarly, operation cost at Tarbela was also around three paisa per unit, but Wapda has to pay around 50 paisa per unit as royalty to the NWFP. Thus, the total cost of power from Tarbela dam was around 70 paisa per unit.

An average generation cost of the electricity of independent power producers and Wapda’s own thermal power plants was around Rs3 per unit. This means that Wapda is losing over Rs2 per unit on every unit it is unable to produce from hydel sources.

These sources said Wapda had produced on an average 10 million units daily in December last year from both the dams, and since then the production has dropped to an average 5,000 units.

Wapda is losing around five million units daily from the Mangla dam alone, they said and added that an average daily loss from both the dams was around Rs10.5 million.

The utility is currently drawing 5,000 cusec and 3,000 cusec from Tarbela and Mangla respectively to meet provincial irrigation requirements.