PEPCO’s incompetence has caused the recent load-shedding as the company has failed to arrange oil supplies for power plants and has not cleared dues of certain power plants, sources told Pakistan Today on Wednesday. Moreover, the company has also ignored bill paying consumers and is giving extra electricity to KESC, which is not even paying the electricity cost to PEPCO.
Sources said that PEPCO officials had earlier given a three to four hours plan of load-shedding during Ramadan, but had suddenly opted for six hours closure as oil and gas for power plants could not be arranged while payments to certain Independent Power Plants (IPPs) were still to be done.
A Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) source said PEPCO had proposed two plans, three days before Ramadan. According to plan A, three hours of load-shedding was suggested in urban areas, while the second plan citing risk of power shortfall proposed four hours of load-shedding. However, PEPCO Managing Director (MD) changed the schedule and gave plan of six hours closure in urban areas.
It is inexplicable that PEPCO is providing a daily 790MW of electricity to KESC and the latter is not even paying, whereas consumers paying bills regularly have been ignored completely. An official of the ministry of power said around 25 percent of the load-shedding could be reduced in the country and power cuts could come to four hours only if supplies to KESC are stopped. According to PEPCO, power generation on Tuesday remained 14,921MW while demand was 18,519MW. If 790MW of electricity is not provided to KESC, the power shortfall will reduce to 2,800MW, meaning only three to four hours of load-shedding. However, PEPCO is helpless in this regard and is grilling consumers for the sake of KESC.
Besides, unscheduled load-shedding in the country is also high and people are faced with outages. “There is no schedule of load-shedding and electricity is closed even at prayer timings during Tarawih. The hot and humid weather accompanied with the load-shedding reminds us of the Middle Age,” said Abdul Hayee who came to offer Isha prayer in a Shadman mosque.
A housewife Tehmina Sarwar said Sehri preparation becomes difficult due to the load-shedding. She said consumers request LESCO to provide relief during Iftar and Sehr times. “LESCO can close electricity in other times but should at least ensure power during Sehr and Iftar,” she lamented.