Electricity shortage reaches 6,000MW mark

ABDUL RASHEDD AZAD

ISLAMABAD: The electricity shortage in the country has reached 6,000 Megawatts (MW) due to damage of Muzaffargarh Power Plant transmission lines which would be completely restored within two days, Water and Power Ministry officials said.

Six pylons (towers) of 500kv transmission line were uprooted due to thunderstorm and rains resultantly affecting 220kv transmission line passing underneath which further damaged 13 towers on the same transmission line.

The official said that Management was forced to suspend power by 12 hours in cities and 16-20 hours in rural areas, adding that within the next two days all the damaged transmission lines would be restored and there would be routine power load-shedding.

Thunderstorm and heavy rains affected transmission lines of the Muzaffargarh power plant resultantly 1,750 MW of electricity could not be transferred to the national grid, however about 1,000 MW had been brought back to the system, the official added.

Before start of Ramazan national electricity demand was 17,500 MW and with the start of Ramazan it has reached 18,500 MW, an increase of 1,000 MW. On 2nd of Ramazan Chashma-I and Chashma-II power plants were closed due to some technical reasons resultantly 650 MW of electricity was suspended; after necessary repair work power supply from Chasma-I had been restored, while power supply from Chasma-II was partly restored, the official maintained.

The official also said that against the direction of the Federal Cabinet the Petroleum Ministry had failed to provide 207 Million Cubic Feet (MMCFD) per day gas to power sector. “Power sector at present is receiving only 100 MMCFD gas” the official added.

On the other hand financial crisis of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is deteriorating with each passing day due to supply of furnace oil on credit to power houses based on furnace oil.

Official data available with Business Recorder reveals that PSO’s outstanding dues against the power sector have surged to Rs 228.69 billion which on Friday was standing at Rs 220 billion.

An official of the PSO told Business recorder that the organisation was on the verge of collapse and required an immediate injection of Rs 50 billion. At present PSO has to pay Rs 174 billion to its local as well as international clients, while its total receivables are Rs 245 billion.

The Hub Power Company (Hubco) is the leading defaulter of PSO with Rs 1009.493 billion outstanding followed by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) with Rs 63.355 billion, Kot Adu Power Company (Kapco) with Rs 36.368 billion, Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) with Rs 12.16 billion and Independent Power Plants (IPPs) with Rs 6.89 billion.

The national fuel supplying company has to pay Rs 174.713 billion to local and international fuel suppliers of which Rs 30.459 billion to Pak-Arab Refinery (Parco), Rs 17.45 billion to Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), Rs 9.7 billion to National Refinery Limited (NRL), Rs 32.96 billion to Atock Oil Refinery Limited (ARL), Rs 2.6 billion to Bosicor and Rs 80.796 billion to Kuwait Petroleum Company Limited.

The Federal Cabinet recently decided that PSO would supply 28,000 tons of oil daily to add 1,200MW to the national grid which was implemented for awhile however with PSO not getting approved funds to open letter of credit (LCs) for further import the cabinet decision is simply not implementable.