Gilani for immediate end to forced loadshedding

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has directed Pepco for an immediate end to forced loadshedding in country, sources said. According to reliable sources, the prime minister had convened an emergent meeting this week to hold accountable from among the Pepco authorities for forced loadshedding in a season when demand is yet manageable. However, this meeting has been deferred to next week owing to March 23, added sources.
Meanwhile, the situation in Pepco was quite panicky over the rumours that prime minister can take some stern actions against the responsible ones. Pepco spokesman Ejaz Rafique Qureshi confirmed that meeting has been postponed to next week. Talking about the problem of forced loadshedding, Qureshi said manual monitoring of allocated quota to each Disco by the NTDC was the root cause of forced closures. He said an effort to replace manual monitoring with electronic monitoring was underway. Pilot projects have been implemented successfully in Lahore and Gujranwala and chances of formal operations are high by next one month, he added.
He said a priority list is available with every Disco so far power distribution out of allocated quota is concerned. However, he said, absence of electronic media at a central point is leading to forced closures, as it is not easy whether the priority list is being followed or not.
It may be noted that domestic consumers were up in their arms a day earlier over forced closures for long hours, leading to public riots in different parts of Punjab. Media coverage of these incidents has led to a notice of the situation by the prime minister accordingly.
It is also worth noting that Pepco has started sharing power situation with media after a gap of over six months. A section of press had started criticising Pepco for not sharing power generation and demand situation, which resumed soon after the meeting convened by the prime minister.
According to available data, power generation has reduced due to less hydel generation because of dead level of Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs and short supply of furnace oil. The estimated shortfall was, therefore, 4500MW; Hydel generation was recorded at 2339MW, followed 1882MW through thermal, 5093MW through IPPs and 94MW through RPPs. Meanwhile, power supply to KESC stood at 690MW.
Qureshi said demand for furnace oil was 36,000 metric tons day against availability of 14,000 metric tons from the PSO. He said the government has adjusted IPPs loans against the circular debt but still its impact is not being witnessed on the supply side. He further expressed the hope that water levels both at Tarbela and Mangla would improve by early April. It would increase share of hydel generation, which would improve the situation accordingly.