Load shedding will continue in Ramazan and PEPCO will try not to conduct power outages during sehri and iftar timings throughout the holy month, PEPCO Managing Director Rasool Khan Mehsood said on Monday. “It is high time that we construct dams and look for indigenous resources to overcome power shortage,” he said while addressing a press conference at WAPDA House. He apologised from the nation for continued load shedding, but did not take responsibility for the outages. “PEPCO is helpless as it is not getting the required amount of gas and oil. I said last year that there will be less load shedding next year, but we could not fulfill the promise as we are not getting adequate fuel,” he said, adding that a number of power plants were not operating at full capacity due to the shortage of gas. He said if PEPCO was given the required gas and oil, the shortage would come down to 2,000MW-2,500MW only and load shedding could be controlled. He said Kot Addu Power (KAPCO) was producing only 411MW, against an installed capacity of 1,300MW. Hubco was churning out 800MW against a capacity of 1,200MW, while Lalpir plant could produce 350MW but was presently closed. Mehsood said current fuel supplies were far less than previous year’s supplies, adding that hydel generation had also been affected due to limited water releases. He said around 15,000 cusecs of water was released from Mangla while our requirement was 45,000 cusecs. “Electricity is a by product of water and we depend upon the release of water from dams,” Mehsood said, adding that there was a dire need to explore indigenous resources for producing electricity. “We should work on Thar coal and other sources for producing energy. There have been attractive discoveries of gas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said, adding that the 18th Amendment could cause problems, as the provinces would now want to use resources themselves.
