LAHORE, July 12: The deficit of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) on Saturday dropped for the first time in the last six months to manageable level of 2,300 megawatt (MW), thanks to increased hydel generation.

There was double relief for the company on Saturday when improved river flows increased hydel power generation on the one hand and incessant rains throughout the country brought the demand down to 15,000MW against 17,000MW during the last few days. The company officials maintained that had the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) provided required quantity of gas, the shortage could have been reduced only to 1,300MW, virtually ending loadshedding in the country.

They also claimed that the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), fearing that Mangla Dam might not be filled given inflow pattern of River Jhelum, has reduced outflow to a meagre 15,000 cusecs. It has reduced power generation from this vital source to a paltry 350MW against possible generation of 1,050MW. Thus, there is a shortfall of around 700MW. Had the authority allowed release of additional water, the deficit could have come down further, they said.

Tarbella Dam provided major relief when it generated around 3,000MW against total possible generation of 3,600MW. The generation at Tarbella was improving by 25MW to 30MW daily and the company hopes generation to touch optimum level by mid-August if the present water trend continues.

The independent power producers (IPPs) provided 4,340MW on Saturday and the rental power provided 100MW against 250MW because of gas constraints. The company’s own thermal generation also remained low at 2,400MW. So, the company had around 12,700MW against total demand of 15,000MW – a deficit of 2,300MW only.

Currently, the major issue is supply of gas to the company, says an official of the Pepco. The company had been getting only 70 per cent of the committed supply from the SNGPL. The company has three levels of demand – optimum demand, normal demand and committed demand. The committed (which the SNGPL has promised to supply) demand is only 15 per cent of the optimum level of demand. That means that company can increase its production by at least 1,000MW if it gets supply of optimum level of demand, and reduce deficit.

The allied benefits of the gas supply are immense, says Muhammad Zubair – an electrical engineer from Lahore. It ends logistical problems of oil supply, improves efficiency of the generation plant and substantially brings down cost of production. It is time for the SNGPL and SSGPL to optimise their systems and spare maximum gas for the power generation companies.

The SNGPL should be able to spare more gas for power sector as its demand is at the lowest ebb because of hot, humid weather. Historically, the SNGPL has been supplying optimum supply to power sector during summer but no one knows what happened this season and why has it not been able to spare more gas for the IPPs.

“The government should also make arrangements to power sector on priority basis because of a host benefits that gas can bring to the power sector,” he said and added: “It is not matter of Pepco or power sector but of economy of the country and industry.”