HYDERABAD: A shortfall of 676MW in supply of electricity from National Power Control Centre (NPCC) to Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) has triggered unprecedented loadshedding, putting consumers to great inconvenience during sehar and iftar in the holy month of Ramazan.

“Around 6,000MW of deficit in peak hours of electricity consumption is being reported in the country between 6pm to 9pm,” said an officer associated with energy sector on the basis power statistics of NPCC, which managed Pakistan’s countywide electricity supply.

The current crisis was caused by the fact that most power plants either remained completely or partially closed or faced non-supply of fuel, including oil and gas. “This year, glacial melting is slow, so hydro-based power generation is not adequate while wind and solar powered energy is always intermittent and low in Pakistan’s overall energy mix,” he said.

The base-load projects that were run on oil, gas, coal and thermal sources largely catered to Pakistan’s energy requirements while renewable energy projects were always intermittent given the nature of their power generation.

“Wind powered projects ideally work when there is enough wind and solar generation units functioned well in the presence of enough sunlight. These projects were supposed to complement energy production,” he said.

The coal remained expensive fuel these days at $400 per tonne when compared with $90 per tonne early last year. Likewise, cost of oil had increased and was not available, he added.

Even Jamshoro power plant that had lately started production had been shut on Sunday night for want of fuel.

Jamshoro power plant shut again

The only unit in the Jamshoro Power Company Limited (JPCL) producing 100MW until Sunday night had now been shut for want of fuel while the remaining three were already on the standby under authorities’ directives.

If fuel was provided, all the units can cumulatively contribute another 450MW to national grid. The plant needs around 15,000 tonnes of residual fuel oil (RFO) for two weeks to run four units. It has worked intermittently after a long time and closed again for unavailability of fuel.

Hesco spokesman Sadiq Kubbar said: “Hesco is resorting to eight hour loadshedding in urban areas and 12 hours in rural areas due to this deficit of electricity supply”.

Hesco, one of the 11 power distribution companies of the country, covers 13 districts in its coverage area. The utility’s demand stood at 1,044MW until a couple of days back while allocation for its power was 679MW. The utility used 676MW, showing a loss of 3MW for technical reasons involving feeders and its grid stations.

Sehar & iftar not spared

Consumers go through untold agony as Hesco does not even spare sehar, iftar and taraveeh timings in many areas. Their complaints usually went unattended. Some consumers complained that there was no schedule of loadshedding in areas like Liaquat Colony, Hirabad and Market sub-divisions.

“Power supply remains suspended in crucial sehar and iftar timings,” said a consumer from Tando Wali Mohammad area, Mohammad Rizwan. The situation in areas including Khai Road, Memon Mohalla, Tilak Chari, Seroghat and Gari Khata was no different.

He explained scheduled loadshedding was for 6.5 hours but practically an eight hour loadshedding was faced by people.

Hesco staff remains out of reach

“We have been without electricity since 3pm till 9pm a couple of days back. Nobody attended complaint till we approached someone in Hesco management,” said Prof Imran Sheikh from Qasimabad. “SDO was simply unaware of power supply’s prolonged discontinuity since 3pm. It was restored at 12 midnight after nine hours,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2022