Delay of payments to oil suppliers and independent power producers (IPPs) by the government has caused long hours of load shedding while power production has sharply dropped.
At the same time decline in hydel generation has worsened the problem, sources told Pakistan Today on Friday. The power shortfall has also crossed 5,500MW due to this reason. The recent wave of load shedding started around 10 days ago and with every passing day the outages are increasing. Consumers are facing at least eight to 12 hours of outages daily while PEPCO has failed to manage the situation. They said the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) is in deep crisis, as it has failed to pay the IPPs and oil supplier while at the same time hydel generation has also reduced. Currently, PEPCO is facing more than 5,500MW of shortfall. Power production is around 6,500MW with hydel generation providing 3,700MW while production from IPPs and GENCOs has dropped to 2,800MW.
“The major problem is with payments to IPPs and this year electricity from hydel generation has also dropped due to less water in Terbela and Mangla dams,” said an official of the Ministry of Power, adding that if payments to IPPs were made on time, there would be no problem at all. The sources said if the government did not make payments in the coming days then the problem would get severe.