Power shortfall has shot up 100 percent during last 24 hours, inviting misery to the public life across the country. The Pepco brief pointed out that gap between demand and supply has hit 6,000 mw and the prime reason behind this is being described short supply of furnace oil to thermal units across the country.
The load shedding duration jumped to abnormally both in urban and rural areas from six hours to eight hours in cities and 10 hours to 15 hours in small towns and villages. The hot weather spell has brought trouble for people especially for schoolchildren. Many of the fellows fainted in classrooms.
Recent press reports have suggested that the powerhouses were getting 20,000 tons of oil from the PSO every day as against the requirement of 36,000 tons. But, this supply, too, was suspended because of the exhaustion of the stock. They said a ship carrying the oil was expected to reach Karachi port on Tuesday night and another on Wednesday. But it would take more than 24 hours to provide oil to the power producing units, they added.
Sources said that outstanding PSO bill, which was around Rs 80 billion to Rs 90 billion, was cleared about two weeks ago, claiming that oil shortage had been created because of flaws in import arrangements.
Power supply situation had improved substantially in early May, reducing to 3000 mw on average. However, the adverse circumstances have crippled the power generation system again with supply cut to thermal generation. The power consumers, both domestic and commercial, were exposed to forced closure both on urban and rural feeders. An unprecedented rise in mercury is adding fuel to the fire, putting many fragile souls into critical health situations.
The power generation during last 24 hours stood at 12,244 mw against the demand of 18,035 mw, locking the shortfall at 5,791 mw. Power generation through hydel, thermal, IPPs and RPPs remained 4873 mw, 1070 mw, 6,230mw and 71 mw respectively. Meanwhile, power supply to KESC was recorded at 680 mw.
Sources said the situation may worsen further due to short supply of fuel. According to them, Pepco authorities were not sharing exact shortfall in power supply and were putting it at lower side for face saving. About 50 percent production capacity of textile industry has closed down due to energy crisis, both on electricity and gas fronts. Not only, the value-added industry has registered massive closure in textile hubs like Faisalabad and Multan, tumbling the raw material prices down. Market sources were not sure about early revival, leading to large-scale unemployment ahead.