LAHORE – Electricity shortfall is set to cross the 4,000MW mark for the first time during the current season, despite a small decrease in mercury level owing to scattered rains in different parts in the country, including the provincial capital, on Friday.
According to the latest power generation and demand figures released by the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), the shortfall has increased by 830 MW during the last 24 hours. The official data shows that electricity demand witnessed a sharp increase of 805 MW in last 24 hours as it touched 14,973 MW.
It also indicates that both hydroelectric and thermal power generation witnessed an accumulated decline of 224MW as compared with the Thursday’s figures. Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and Rental Power Plants (RPPs) slightly also improved their generation capacity by 118MW and 111MW respectively.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, a senior PEPCO official said hydel power generation had reduced as a result of less water flow from the reservoirs. However, he believed that hydroelectric power generation capacity would slightly increase in the coming week with improved water releases.
And in Lahore, scheduled and unscheduled load shedding hit different parts of Lahore with power outages in the urban areas touching 10 to 12 hours while in the rural areas it surpassed 16 hours. Township, Green Town, Johar Town, Garden Town, Multan Road, Allama Iqbal Town and Garhi Shahu were among the worst-affected areas.
