Power shortfall crosses threshold of 5,500 megawatts

The power shortfall crossed the threshold of 5,500MW during last 24 hours, widening the loadshedding duration up to 20 hours amidst heavy forced closures. According to the available Pepco data, power generation has dipped down to 9,788MW, while the demand peaking at more than 15,510MW, working out a shortfall of 5,722MW, which is a record in April.
Power generation through hydel, thermal, IPPs and RPPs stood at 2486MW, 1390MW, 5670MW and 242MW, respectively. Supply to the KESC was recorded at 660MW. The power consumers cursed the Pepco management for its tall claims against their maladministration. They also criticised the central and provincial governments for their bad governance oozing out of shortage of oil, gas and water in the country. The power experts are of the view that the worst has yet to come with the rise in mercury ahead. They also feared that the present power outage duration of up to 20 hours would further exacerbate in the urban and rural areas with increase in loadshedding.
Meanwhile, a good number of industrial units were practically shut down triggering the problem of unemployment in the country. However, the Pepco management believes that hydel generation is likely to rise in May besides improvement in oil and gas supply, leading to a comfortable situation in near future.