–Omar Ayub says electricity shortfall stands at ‘zero’ as media reports claim hike in power outages
LAHORE:
In sharp contrast to media reports, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan on Sunday said that electricity shortfall stood at ‘zero’ as “power generation was more than demand within the country”.
In a tweet, Ayub claimed that the demand was less than 17,000 megawatts after the availability of 17,100 MW electricity in the national grid as per ‘official statistics’. The federal minister clarified that announced load management was continued in the areas facing losses due to electricity theft and other [technical] reasons.
ملک میں بجلی کی صورتحال بالکل نارمل ہے۔
اس وقت کوئی شارٹ فال نہیں ہے۔
کچھ ذرائع کے حوالے سے غلط خبریں پھیلائیں جا رہیں ہیں
کل بجلی کی پیداوار 17100 میگا واٹ جبکہ ڈیمانڈ 17000 سے کم ہے۔— Omar Ayub Khan (@OmarAyubKhan) April 7, 2019
However, media reports present a completely different side of the picture, claiming that the shortfall has touched 2500 MW across the country. Lahore alone needs an additional supply of 490MW to meet the growing demand.
They claim that power consumption has reached 16,000 megawatts whereas production stands at 13500 megawatts only, resulting in three to seven hours of load shedding.
It has been learnt that three-hour power outages are being held from 1241 feeders with 10 percent line losses, five-hour load shedding from 430 feeders with 30 percent line losses, six-hour outages from 74 feeders with 40 percent lines losses and seven-hour load shedding from 20 feeders with 60 percent line losses and The LESCO is conducting load shedding on the basis of the line losses and the electricity theft from its 1775 feeders.
A spokesperson of the ministry had also admitted to few-hour load shedding in a talk with media-persons a day earlier.
