The shortfall between electricity demand and supply Sunday climbed to over 6,000MW, causing outages for over 8-12 hours in various parts of the country.
The frequent and unannounced suspension in the power supply has made the lives of the common people difficult, thanks to the non-provision of fuel for power generation that has emerged as one of the main reasons behind the blackouts in the country. The duration of load-shedding is even higher in areas with high losses.
According to so-called load-shedding or load management of available power being reported by electricity distribution companies (DISCO), the gap between demand and supply has surged to 5,700MW. It is learned that 4,650MW of electricity is being generated from hydropower while public sector thermal plants are producing only 1,200MW.
Commenting on prolonged power cuts, Hammad Azhar, former Energy Minister, observed that load-shedding volumes had crossed over 5,000MW per day for more than 10 days now. “Seems like this is a new normal in the ‘imposed’ government’s tenure. Power plants have been rendered idle without fuel and imported coal,” he said and added that no plan was in sight to end the shortages.
Amid the scorching heat, the unending and crippling outages have infuriated people as their ordeal continues unabated. As the power system is under severe pressure, people claimed that the torment of electricity load-shedding in the country was increasing day by day and such an uncontrollable situation had not been seen in the last several years.
They said the government should try to reduce the duration of load-shedding at least at night, to let people sleep peacefully. Businesses also suffer heavily and citizens complain that despite paying a hefty bill, the unavailability of electricity has become a permanent nuisance for them. They demanded the government take immediate steps to address the issue.