With the given resources, PEPCO has performed very well in the year 2011 and we will make utmost efforts to provide uninterrupted electricity supplies to the country in 2012, said Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) Managing Director Rasool Khan Mahsud in an interview with Profit. Rasool Khan Mahsud took charge of PEPCO on October 1st, 2010 and since then made utmost efforts for reducing load shedding but he said outages could not be controlled unless supplies of oil and gas are increased or dependency on both products reduced. He said oil and gas is the lifeline for power plants but its unavailability remained major problem for the company during 2011 and because of the absence of these products; the menace of load shedding haunted the country.
“Our energy mix comprises of 30-35 (5,500-6,000 megawatts) per cent from hydel generation and 65 per cent (12,000-12,500MW) from thermal plants, which runs on gas and oil therefore availability of gas and oil, is vital for power sector,” he said adding often generation of electricity declines sharply due to less availability of gas and oil. “Our gas fields remained under problem due to sabotage activities by the terrorists and it results in reduction in gas supplies to power plants and consequently, the electricity production suffered badly,” PEPCO MD said adding if there is smooth supplies then load shedding could end. He said company made excellent efforts after October 2011 power crisis and there has been no load shedding since then. He said if payments are made in time to the independent power plants (IPPs) then there could be significant reduction in outages. “We faced problems in October 2011 due to oil payments to the IPPs and since payments are made in time, there is no load shedding. It reflects our round the clock efforts and commitment,” he added. To a question of increase in electricity prices, Rasool Khan Mahsud said oil prices in international market are increasing and in the past it touched the $147 per barrel but then Musharraf-led government did not allow to increase the electricity tariffs due to public fear and during that time the circular debt of PEPCO piled up and now the current government is facing this problem. “WAPDA former chairman Tariq Hameed asked Pervez Musharraf for increasing electricity prices to save the power sector from the heavy debts but the latter denied it and now we are facing huge increase in electricity prices,” he said adding in the year 2011 PEPCO successfully managed to control the circular debt. He said Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) is not generating power as per requirement of Karachi and continuously getting huge amount of electricity from PEPCO and at the same time KESC is not paying outstanding Rs45 billon to PEPCO. “We have an agreement of providing 650 megawatts to KESC but for the last three months we are giving more than 850MW to KESC and it caused further pressure on our system,” he added. To a question of unscheduled load shedding, PEPCO MD said it is carried out to save the system and if it is not done then the whole distribution system could collapse. He said forced load shedding is the better way to save the system. Rasool Khan Mahsud emphasised on exploring alternative resources for producing power. He said government is making great efforts for enhancing power production and also planned to install coal projects so that dependency on oil and gas could be reduced.
