LAHORE: National Grid Company of Pakistan (NGC) - formerly the National Transmission & Despatch Company Limited (NTDCL) has rejected the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (Nepra) performance evaluation report for the transmission sector for FY 24-25 and expressed serious reservations in this regard.

Highlighting importance of a reliable national transmission system, the company states that that the loading of transmission assets such as transformers and transmission lines cannot be assessed in isolation.

“Pakistan’s power system operates as an interconnected national network, designed to safely manage normal demand as well as reasonably expected outages, in line with the Grid Code overseen by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority,” the spokesperson said in response to the Nepra’s report.

In such systems, it is normal for some equipment to appear lightly loaded at certain times, while the same equipment may carry higher loads during disturbances, outages, or unusual peak demand conditions. As a result, temporary loading above 80 per cent does not automatically indicate overloading or risk.

Defends grid integrity, rebuffs overloading claims

An asset is considered genuinely overloaded only when it is persistently stressed over extended periods, leading to damage or forced loadshedding. The spokesman claims that the company’s asset management records confirm that during FY 2024–25, instances of transformer loading above 80pc at a limited number of grid stations occurred only for short durations during peak summer hours, remained within design limits, and did not result in any transformer damage or allied equipment alarms or loadshedding. This demonstrates that the system continued to operate within safe operational margins.

“The figures cited in the Nepra report are based on maximum half-hourly recorded values over daily, monthly, or yearly periods. Such peak snapshots do not truly represent continuous operating conditions and can therefore give a misleading impression of persistent stress.”

Transformer performance also depends heavily on temperature of the oil/winding, not just electrical current. All transformers installed by National Grid Company are designed for high ambient conditions of Pakistan. In recent years, system peaks have increasingly shifted to night-time due to solar generation, when ambient temperatures are lower, making similar electrical loading less severe than daytime operation. Therefore, declaring the transformer as overloaded solely on the basis of the recorded percentage of rated current is not justified unless it is correlated with the corresponding oil/winding temperature.

Localised references to overloading, such as Jamshoro, reflect temporary system conditions, for example when wind generation is low and alternative supply paths are limited. These situations are operationally managed and do not indicate continuous overloading of transformers or associated transmission lines.

The company says that the power dispatch in Pakistan follows Security-Constrained Economic Dispatch (SCED), under which cost efficiency is balanced with system security, reliability, and stability. Merit-order dispatch is applied within this framework, but it may be adjusted where required due to transmission constraints, system conditions, outages, fuel limitations, or emergencies.

“NGC acknowledges that most large transmission projects have experienced delays and cost increases, driven by a combination of external factors such as right-of-way and land acquisition challenges beyond the control of NGC, security-related constraints in certain project areas, litigation, changes in project scope due to evolving system needs, and extended procurement and financing processes for complex infrastructure. At the same time, the company recognises the need to further strengthen internal planning, execution, and governance frameworks and has already initiated reforms to improve project preparation, risk management, and delivery timelines, with support from international development partners, to ensure more efficient and predictable execution going forward.”

The claim of under-utilisation 660 kV Matiari-Lahore HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) transmission line is based on viewing the HVDC link in isolation, whereas such systems are designed to operate together with the wider AC transmission network to ensure safe and reliable power flow.

Power transfer on the HVDC corridor varies with system demand and grid conditions. During peak summer demand, the corridor has evacuated up to 4500MW, demonstrating that the asset is actively used when required.

Recent completion of the Lahore North grid infrastructure has strengthened the network and increased the corridor’s power transfer capability. Accordingly, utilisation of major transmission assets should be viewed as part of an integrated corridor capacity and operational capability, rather than through isolated individual circuits.

It rejected the claim that Pakistan’s grid monitoring system is obsolete, stating that the national SCADA system (supervisory control and data acquisition) has evolved in phases, not remained unchanged. It was first installed in the early 1990s for basic grid monitoring, substantially upgraded during 2010–2013, and most recently modernised under a new digital SCADA platform that became operational in February 2025.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2026