Almost complete power shutdown will be observed for the industries during Ramazan as special arrangements are made to ensure smooth electricity supply to the domestic consumers at Sehri, Iftar and Taraveeh prayers, the Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power was informed here Monday. The committee meeting chaired by Senator Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan was informed by the officials that there will be load shedding of around 8:30 hours daily for the industrial sector.
"The first priority are the urban domestic consumers followed by the rural domestic consumers," Secretary Water and Power Yunus Dagha told the committee. He said that not only domestic consumption has increased significantly but even the mosques too have air conditioners as a result the consumption during Taraveeh times is very high.
"Besides we all can see the weather conditions nowadays," he added. "The demand and supply gap was still very high." The committee was informed that in the current month the average electricity generation in the country had been 16,280 mega watts whereas the demand stood around 20,500 MW.
The members of the committee decried prolonged load shedding in rural areas, and the officials reiterated that the load shedding would end by June 2018, as the current installed capacity of around 20,000 MW would be raised to 31,000 MW. The increase includes addition of 630 MW and 200 MW from wind and solar generation by the end of December 2016.
Senator Taj Haider, inquired why the government was not abolishing generation licences? And allow the private sector including provinces to establish their own power plants for localised consumption? "If an industrial area of Karachi establishes one plant for their own non-stop electricity supply or if two villages establish power plant for their local consumption - but they need to clear stringent procedures," he asked.
"Besides, it will end the monopoly enjoyed by some power sector companies like K-electric in Karachi." He was told that a new policy was in the offing that will allow the Provinces to establish their own electricity regulatory body and abolish the power generation licences. "But what we want to ensure is that there has to be some quality standard mechanism to be followed at all levels," Secretary Water and Power added.
The committee discussed several issues including circular debt, as the officials said that it has been capped. "It was Rs 320 billion in October 2014 and it was still at Rs 318 billion now," Younus Dagha said. However, the Senators said that it was mainly due to the reduction in the power generation cost as the price of furnace oil has dropped significantly.
The National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill 2016 was also presented to the Committee, that was approved by the federal Cabinet in 2009 and it has been approved by the National Assembly. The Bill deals with Enercon and establishment of its Board, but Senator Noman Wazir pointed out that there were several flaws in the Bill and it was bureaucratic centric. "The real stakeholders including electronic items manufacturers, Engineering Development Board, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, etc, should be part of the Enercon Board," he added.