Power generation at peak hours rose by more than 26.5 percent to 16,044 MW in May 2016 as compared to 12,671 MW in May 2013 due to which electricity is being supplied as per announced schedule, official sources told Business Recorder. However, those areas where recovery is far less than billing are facing prolonged outages and in certain localities protests against forced load shedding have been witnessed.
Pakistan has given understanding to the lenders including, the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Development Agency (JICA) that load shedding will be carried out as per percentage of recovery. Secretary Water and Power, Younus Dagha is personally monitoring generation and distribution systems to ensure judicious load shedding across Pakistan. A cell in Prime Minister Office is in close liaison with the power sector managers as the Prime Minister does not want an embarrassing situation for the government, the sources added.
"Peak generation in May 2013 was 12,671 MW followed by 13,217 MW in 2014 and 14,121 MW in 2015. On May 20, 2016 generation was 16,044 MW, highest ever for May despite the fact that power sector is striving to meet the challenge of an unprecedented heat wave in May," said Dagha. The Ministry of Water and Power is also preparing schedule of power supply during Ramazan which will start in the second week of June 2016. According to spokesman of Water and Power Ministry, power demand statistics change every hour. He claimed that at 9 am, total demand was 18,200 MW whereas generation was recorded at 14,876 MW of which the shares of hydel was 5,073 MW, thermal 9803 MW, and 186 MW from wind source.
However, at 12 noon Saturday (yesterday) generation was recorded at 15,874 MW against total demand of 19119 MW including KE. The spokesman further stated that there was no unannounced load shedding in any part of the country. Normal predictable load management is six hours in urban and eight hours in rural areas. Zero load shedding is being carried out by the Discos in the industrial dedicated feeders. Areas with higher losses and theft are having higher load management hours according to the percentage of losses," he added.
However, information reaching here reveals that load shedding in rural areas is not less than 10 hours as Discos are supplying electricity within the allocated quotas. An official told Business Recorder that the bills of those consumers, who use more than 300 units in a month, have reduced substantially due to monthly fuel adjustment mechanism. However, the consumers who use less than 300 units in a month are not eligible for refund.
The Ministry of Water and Power is constantly monitoring the power position in the country. Local faults are being rectified by special discos teams on immediate basis.The Ministry has appealed to the consumers to register their complaints with their area complaint centers with their telephone numbers provided on their monthly bills. In case any difficulty is faced by the consumers, complaints can also be registered at federal level with Ministry of Water and Power Federal complaint cell at telephone Nos: 051-9204430, 051-9103888 and 051-9206834. Online complaints can be registered at www.mowp.gov.pk. The Ministry has also urged the consumers to adopt energy conservation measures and avoid wastage of electricity to help in provision of electricity to consumers as per schedule.