ISLAMABAD - The government is likely to fail for the fourth consecutive time in keeping its promise of zero loadshedding to 100 percent consumers in Ramazan mainly due to the system constraints, it is learnt reliably yesterday.
“We can generate enough power to provide to the consumers during Taraweekh, Sehri and Iftar but due to the system constraints it is impossible to ensure its uninterrupted supply,” an official of the Ministry of Water and Power confided to The Nation.
It is almost possible to ensure undisrupted power supply to 100 percent consumers in Ramazan mainly because of the system constraints, the official said adding that power supply to 75-80 percent consumers can be ensured.
“We have proposed to the ministry that it should avoid announcing zero loadshedding during Taraweekh, Sehri and Iftar, as it raises the people’s expectations and in case of failure to fulfil it brings public backlash,” the official said adding that in a political stunt the government has announced zero outage which is impossible to achieve.
It is pertinent to mention here that a Parliamentary Committee was last week informed that there would be no power outage during Taraweekh, Sehr and Iftar timings in the upcoming holy month of Ramazan. To ensure power supply to domestic consumers during Taraweekh, Sehr and Iftar timings, it has been decided to end zero loadshedding for industries in Ramazan.
According the government’s priority list, the first priority is the urban domestic consumers followed by the rural domestic consumers. In Ramazan not only domestic consumption increases considerably, but also mosques equipped with huge number of fans and air-conditioners start using increased power.
For example the official said that in May 2016 average electricity generation in the country was 13588 MW, which was higher than that in May 2015 generation of 12890 MW. Similarly, the peak generation also touched the highest ever mark of 16,280 MW, as compared to 2015 which was 14813 MW. But on the other hand, this year, the demand also shot up to 20,500MW.
When asked how much power can be saved by applying eight-hour loadshedding to the industries, the official said that by turning off power to the industries could save around 2500 MW electricity but it cannot be supplied to the consumers because of system constraints.
The domestic demands stood around 16000 MW but some of the power transformers installed in the grid stations are overloaded and cannot be used in full capacity.
When asked that which area has more overloaded transformers, the official said that Quetta Electric Supply Company(QESCO), Sukkur Electric Suppply Company(SEPCO), Multan Electric Supply Company (MEPCO) and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) etc has overloaded transformers. However, the official said that Islamabad Electric supply Company (IESCO) does not have any overloaded transformers.
Besides the overloaded grid transformers there are other issues which may also affect the smooth supply of power to the consumers. For example, the official said, there are around 6 million transformers in the Discos are across Pakistan and majority of them are overloaded which can also cause disruption in power supply.