The duration of load shedding would not exceed six hours in the summer since hydel generation would improve, Lahore Electric Supply Company Chief Executive Sharafat Sial said, adding that LESCO was helpless and could not stop forced outages since it was outside its domain.
He was briefing reporters at LESCO headquarters about installation of new 132-KV grid station on Multan Road. Holding Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) responsible for the load shedding, he said LESCO was carrying outages according to quota allocated to it by the PEPCO. He said LESCO had to prepare load shedding schedule according to electricity provided by the PEPCO and National Power Control Centre (NPCC). “If we are given 1,000MW less than our demand then we have to prepare schedule according to the available power,” he said adding unscheduled load shedding was being carried out by NPCC and LESCO had nothing to do with it. “NPCC closes grid stations of the country and we cannot stop them from doing so,” he said. To a question, he said the duration of load shedding would not increase in the summer. “Currently, our generation capacity has dropped due to less hydel generation. The water level in Mangla and Tarbela are touching dead level and as a result hydel generation is less,” he said adding in the summer hydel generation would be at least three times more than current generation and situation would get better. He said currently six to 12 hours of load shedding were being carried out Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) jurisdiction. “We are closing urban areas for six hours and rural areas for 12 hours in a day,” he added.
Discussing the newly installed 132-KV grid station at Multan Road, the LESCO CEO said that this station would reduce loads on Chung and Johar Town grid stations and help ensure smooth supply of electricity in major areas of the city. He said the grid station was started in December 2007 and many problems arose during the construction but LESCO had managed to get through all the troubles. He said industrial, domestic and commercial sectors would be the major beneficiaries of this grid station. To a question, he said LESCO had completed this project on it own and National Transmission Dispatch Company (NTDC) had not assisted it in the construction. “NTDC has just given us the initial designs but later everything was done by the LESCO engineers,” Sial said adding that the project was funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and was worth Rs 297 million. He said LESCO had also planned more grid stations to improve the infrastructure of the city and would work on Punjab University, Askari-X and other grid stations.
PROTESTS CONTINUE: The protests against load shedding and excessive billing continued for the second day on Wednesday.
The protest continued in Lakshmi Chowk, Township, Wahdat Road and Mughalpura. The protestors burnt tyres and blocked the roads and chanted slogans against PEPCO and LESCO for load shedding. The protestors also demanded of LESCO for reversing fuel price adjustment (FPA), as it has increased the bills. The protestors also said that load shedding has ruined their lives.
Meanwhile load shedding continued in the city and every part of the city observed 10 to 12 hours of outages.
