LAHORE: The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) has announced three and four to five hours of load shedding in urban and rural areas, respectively, from December 26.
Addressing a press conference at WAPDA House on Friday, PEPCO MD Rasul Khan Mahsud called his organisation one of the biggest social welfare institutes in the country, as it was providing relief to the masses for Rs 2.86 per units. He said formal load shedding schedule would be announced in the coming days, as the PEPCO first wanted to streamline its load management plan to avoid unscheduled power outages.
He said due to the annual de-silting of canals, it was expected that the country would face an electricity shortfall of between 3,500MW and 4000MW, but PEPCO had made alternate arrangements to curtail the prolonged power outages.
Mahsud said the government had paid to Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on account of inter-corporate debt so the availability of fuel could be ensured for power generation. He said PSO had pledged to start supplying fuel for power generation from (today) Saturday.
The PEPCO MD said the company was trying to maintain the shortfall at around 1,500MW during winter, which was around 4,500MW in the previous year.
He said PEPCO required some 750mmcfd of gas for power generation, but only 241 mmcfd were available to its power generation units.
To a query, Mahsud said there were several contractual and import-related hurdles in the commissioning of rental power plants (RPPs), however, the country would completely get rid of load shedding in two to three years.
