Countrywide breakdown: Incident at Guddu was trigger point, CCoE told

ISLAMABAD: The Power Division Thursday informed the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) that three separate inquiry reports had clearly proved that the incident at Guddu Power Complex was a trigger point that led to breakdown of the entire power system in the country.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) was held under the Chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar. The Power Division presented the report of the inquiry into the power outage across the country on January 9, 2021. A detailed briefing was made to the committee in the technical reasons which led to the countrywide breakdown.

The Power Division informed the committee that three separate inquiry reports had clearly proved that the incident at Guddu Power Complex was a trigger point that led to the breakdown of the entire power system.

The committee observed that while the inquiries had established the immediate case of breakdown of the system, it was important to find out as to why sufficient check & balance were not available in the system to prevent occurrence of such events.

The committee also directed that it may be ascertained weather recommendations given by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) in 2018 after power breakdown were implemented or otherwise. It should be clarify as to whose responsibility it was to implement the 2018 recommendations of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).

Power Division also presented the latest circular debt status and comprehensive circular debt management plan (CDMP) 2021 which covers the three year period from FY2020-21 to FY2022-23 and describes the mechanisms and initiatives to address the issue and suggests an action plan to control the flow of circular debt with a monitoring matrix system.

The committee appreciated the efforts of the Power Division for regular monitoring of circular debt situation and for devising the plan to take it.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Special Assistant to PM on Power Revenue and official of various ministries and divisions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021