On Friday, Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir said that the power situation would improve gradually within the next few days, and ongoing hours-long power outages are due to the non-availability of fuel for the power plants.
Addressing a news conference along with Minister of State Hashim Notezai, Khurram Dastgir said that power load-shedding was due to a shortage of fuel and the closure of some power plants due to maintenance and technical faults. He said that the power situation in the country would improve within a few days as a result of the improved availability of Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) and furnace oil to the power plants. He said 5,739 Megawatt (MW) of electricity is out of the system due to a shortage of fuel, while approximately 2,156 MW of electricity was not part of the system due to technical faults in the power plants. If fuel were available, then power shortfall would not happen in the country, said Dastgir.
“Teams have been formed to control the power load-shedding situation while the government has canceled holidays of power sector employees,” said the Power Minister.
He added that all power distribution companies (DISCOs) had been tasked to ensure that the situation did not deteriorate further and control the emergency.
Dastgir also said the electricity problem in the country is not electricity generation but of availability of fuel. He said gas availability would start from May 1 (Sunday) while furnace oil run power and coal-fired plants will begin power generation from the next week, which will help overcome the shortage of electricity. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed to end the power shortfall from May 1, 2022. Thar coal and Port Qasim coal plants will begin working from Sunday, while the hydel generation of electricity will begin in June to improve electric supply significantly, said Dastgir.
Khurram Dastgir further informed that the power division would share the power generation, demand and supply data only to communicate accurate data to the public. He said that 10-12 hours long load-shedding would reduce to half during the next few days. He said an additional demand of two to three thousand megawatts of electricity has arisen during the last few days, which increased the demand and supply gap. We are also watching the revenue targets of DISCOs, and requests will also be made to the law enforcement agencies to check power pilferage, said Khurram Dastgir.
Regarding revenue requirements to run the power plants and control the power load shedding, Khurram Dastgir said that Rs332 billion are required until June 15, while Rs107 billion will be required till May 25, and Rs85 billion will be needed till the end of June 2022.
Khurram Dastgir also announced that the government is reconstituting the boards of all DISCOs. He said the government has been trying to end the long-hours power load-shedding while later on, the government will take measures to produce cheap electricity in the country.
