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Pakistan suffers big power outage after second grid failure in three months

MenInG

MenInG

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News reports saying no power in main cities of Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore

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A massive power outage was reported from several cities across Pakistan.

The cities to face disruption include Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi.

Within Karachi, areas which reported outages included Korangi, Defence, Garden, Clifton, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, MA Jinnah Road, II Chundrigar Road, Liaquatabad, and FB Area.

Even the Jinnah International Airport remained without power.

A few minutes into the breakdown, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said that the National Transmission Despatch Company’s lines have tripped, causing outage.

"It will take sometime before everything gets back to normal," he added.
 
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National Power Control Center has confirmed the electricity blackout in Pakistan is due to a drop in frequency. Teams are trying to find out the reason for power outage.
 
Electricity expected to be restored by 8 AM across Pakistan while Karachi and Islamabad are expected to have the electricity back within the next 3 hours due to having their own power plants
 
electricity is back in my area.

Weird noises coming. dont know where the noises coming from
 
My light came back in Lahore after about 50 minutes. Still hearing majority cities in Pakistan are without power.
 
China has the ability to do a cyber attack and stop the electricity supply (according to CIA)

Anyone thinking that maybe this is a cyber attack by india? :irfan
 
Electricity is gradually being restored in some areas of Pakistan following a huge power cut across the country, with every city reporting outages.

Homes nationwide were suddenly plunged into darkness from about midnight.

Officials appealed for calm but warned that it could take several hours before electricity is fully restored.

Power cuts are not uncommon in Pakistan. Essential facilities such as hospitals often use diesel-fuelled generators as a back-up power supply.

"A countrywide blackout has been caused by a sudden plunge in the frequency in the power transmission system," Pakistan's Power Minister, Omar Ayub Khan, wrote on Twitter in the early hours of Sunday.

Major cities, including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, were among those affected.

Mr Khan later said that power had been restored in some regions, including the city of Peshawar.

He added that an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the blackout.

Blackouts sometimes occur in Pakistan because of chronic power shortages, with many areas having no electricity for several hours a day. The issue has previously led to street protests.

In 2013, Pakistan's electricity network broke down completely after a power plant in south-western Balochistan province developed a technical fault.
 
Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan said on Sunday that power will be restored across the country within next few hours.

Addressing a press conference alongside Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, the energy minister said a technical fault was reported at the Gaddu power plant at 11:41pm last night when the frequency fell from 50 to zero in seconds.

“We energised Tarbela power plant twice which initiated the restoration process," he said, adding that electricity has been restored in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Jhang, Multan while K-Electric has been provided 400MV.

Omar Ayub said teams are face difficulties due to heavy fog and the exact reason behind the technical fault will be identified once the fog settles down. "The reason for the breakdown has not been ascertained yet. The technical fault occurred in a particular area."

The federal ministers criticised the previous governments for focussing on power generation and neglecting transmission system. "Under the government of PML-N, the country saw eight major power breakdowns," said the energy minister.

"When the incumbent government assumed office, no work had been done to upgrade transmission system. We are investing in transmission and distribution system. A $6 billion transmission line has been laid in Matiari."

“The previous governments focussed on power generation but did not upgrade transmission system,” said Faraz. “Now, we are focussing on transmission and distribution of power.”

https://www.geo.tv/latest/329181-bl...-ayub-khan-to-brief-nation-on-power-breakdown
 
Restoration work is in the process after a major power breakdown plunged the entire country into darkness late Saturday, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan said in a statement early Sunday.

The blackout occurred minutes before midnight across the country with citizens taking to social media to report outages. As outages hit cities, mobile and internet services were also affected.

The energy minister said the power breakdown occurred when the frequency in the national power distribution system (NTDC) suddenly fell from 50 to zero, adding that the matter was being investigated and the attempts were being made to restart the Tarbela Power Station to restore supply.

Read more: 'Blackout': Massive power outage in Pakistan as several cities plunge into darkness

Omar Ayub said he was personally supervising the restoration work and has been periodically sharing restoration updates on his Twitter account.

Areas where power has been restored:

According to the energy minister, power has been restored at all Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) stations, restoring supply in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts.

Power has also been restored at the 500kv Rawat-Naukhar circuit and the 500kv Tarberla-Rawat circuit.

Omar Ayub said 132kv grid stations around Lahore have been energised including Shadman, Qartaba, Mc Leod Road, Gulshan Ravi, Fort, Saidpur, Shamke, Sagihan, Ravi, Bund Road, Badami, bagh, Sabzar, Sheikhupura, Orient, and Sapphire.

In Karachi, the K-Electric said in a statement that power has been restored at Federal B Area, Landhi, Malir, North Karachi, some areas along Shahra e Faisal, Valika society, and some parts of Baloch Colony.

According to Geo News, power has also been restored in some parts of Gulistan-e-Johar, North Nazimabad, New Karachi, Saddar, Bahadurabad, Naya Nazimabad, SITE, Korangi, Manghopir, and near the airport.

Meanwhile, the power supply remains suspended in most districts of Balochistan including Quetta city.

Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) said electricity has been restored in some parts of Peshawar as 36% of the grid stations have been energized.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/329179-bl...ower-being-restored-in-cities-across-pakistan
 
What kind of poorly designed power generation system is this where this is a SPOF (Single Point of Failure) that can cause outrage across the whole country in all big cities from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi to Peshawar at the same time ?
 
Majid Khan said:
What kind of poorly designed power generation system is this where this is a SPOF (Single Point of Failure) that can cause outrage across the whole country in all big cities from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi to Peshawar at the same time ?
Click to expand...

Maybe there's more to it.. something strategic
 
Bigboii said:
China has the ability to do a cyber attack and stop the electricity supply (according to CIA)

Anyone thinking that maybe this is a cyber attack by india? :irfan
Click to expand...

If we're that good, we wouldn't be such boffins with 4hr power cuts in our so called "technology capital".
 
Varun said:
If we're that good, we wouldn't be such boffins with 4hr power cuts in our so called "technology capital".
Click to expand...

Which city is that ? So other Indian cities must be experiencing same or even worse.
 
Giannis said:
Maybe there's more to it.. something strategic
Click to expand...

It’s a possibility , as otherwise it’s quite worrying that a single fuse, transformer or other component can break down and take out the electricity from Karachi to Kashmir.
 
Hours after a major power breakdown plunged the entire country into darkness, Energy Minister Omar Ayub said on Sunday morning that power supply was expected to be completely restored soon.

The blackout was reported a little before midnight by citizens on social media from across the country, including major urban centres such as Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Multan, as well as smaller towns and cities.

People are silhouetted on vehicle's headlights on a dark street during widespread power outages in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Sunday, Jan 10. Pakistan's national power grid experienced a major breakdown late night on Saturday, leaving millions of people in darkness. — AP
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Ayub said that investigations were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the breakdown at Guddu power plant that had plunged the country into darkness.

"We don't know the reasons at this time since we'd sent teams at night to Guddu [power plant] and there was a lot of fog, nothing could be seen at the time [...] as the day goes on and the fog clears, the investigation will be conducted [to ascertain] where the fault occurred."

Ayub said that at 11:41pm on Saturday, the Guddu power plant developed a fault and "within a second, the frequency dropped". He further explained that in technical terms, this is called a cascade effect, since "one after the other" the safety systems of the power plant began to shut down.

The minister said that this was similar to a fuse blowing which has to be manually reset, and the power plant being shut down had affected the entire country.

The energy minister said that it will take a few more hours for the electric grid to be completely restored, adding, however, that power supply had already resumed in many cities. He said that the Tarbela power plant was fired up soon after the breakdown, following which power supply was restored to Islamabad, Rawalpindi and half of Lahore.

Other cities in Punjab like Jhang, Mianwali and Multan "to a large extent had been energised", while a supply of 400 megawatt was released to K-Electric for Karachi, he added.

System failure
Earlier, the Ministry of Energy spokesperson, tweeting from the ministry's official Twitter handle, said that according to initial reports, the Guddu power plant developed a fault at 11:41pm on Saturday night.

“The fault caused the country’s high transmission lines to trip, which in turn caused the system frequency to drop from 50 to 0 in less than a second.

The drop in frequency caused power plants to shut down.”

Some time later, the energy minister tweeted that power supply was being restored to cities in phases, starting with Islamabad.

According to Ayub, the power breakdown was caused after the frequency in the national power distribution system suddenly fell from 50 to zero.

Restoration efforts
By late morning, power had been restored to some areas of major cities such as Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, authorities announced on Twitter.

"132kv Grids Around Lahore Energized," Ayub tweeted just before 8am.

The K-Electric, which is the sole power distributor in Karachi, also said that power was being restored in phases to the port city.

Engineering teams are making "full efforts" to restore electricity supply, the utility service provider said on Twitter.

There were no immediate reports of disruption at hospitals, which can often rely on back-up generators.

AFP quoted a water and power ministry spokesman as saying that power had been restored to some parts of the country but many areas in Lahore and Karachi were still waiting.

Netblocks, which monitors internet outages, said internet connectivity in the country “collapsed” as a result of the blackout.

Connectivity was at “62 percent of ordinary levels,” it said in a tweet.
 
Majid Khan said:
What kind of poorly designed power generation system is this where this is a SPOF (Single Point of Failure) that can cause outrage across the whole country in all big cities from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi to Peshawar at the same time ?
Click to expand...

When one of the large source of power gets out it starts a chain reaction since the system isn’t capable to drive the load, the frequency starts decreasing within seconds goes to zero if relays don’t interrupt but if relays interrupt than the system is separated from the load. In both scenarios blackout happens but restoration time differs probably relays failed to interrupt. For the reaction time usually 10-20 cycles are the limit which translates into 0.2-0.4 seconds roughly.
 
MenInG said:
Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan said on Sunday that power will be restored across the country within next few hours.

Addressing a press conference alongside Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, the energy minister said a technical fault was reported at the Gaddu power plant at 11:41pm last night when the frequency fell from 50 to zero in seconds.

“We energised Tarbela power plant twice which initiated the restoration process," he said, adding that electricity has been restored in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Jhang, Multan while K-Electric has been provided 400MV.

Omar Ayub said teams are face difficulties due to heavy fog and the exact reason behind the technical fault will be identified once the fog settles down. "The reason for the breakdown has not been ascertained yet. The technical fault occurred in a particular area."

The federal ministers criticised the previous governments for focussing on power generation and neglecting transmission system. "Under the government of PML-N, the country saw eight major power breakdowns," said the energy minister.

"When the incumbent government assumed office, no work had been done to upgrade transmission system. We are investing in transmission and distribution system. A $6 billion transmission line has been laid in Matiari."

“The previous governments focussed on power generation but did not upgrade transmission system,” said Faraz. “Now, we are focussing on transmission and distribution of power.”

https://www.geo.tv/latest/329181-bl...-ayub-khan-to-brief-nation-on-power-breakdown
Click to expand...

He is absolutely right about transmission line. It is like PMLN built a huge water tank for a hotel but forgot to build water pipe lines. So water remains in water tank and is not useable until the pipelines are added
 
Bigboii said:
China has the ability to do a cyber attack and stop the electricity supply (according to CIA)

Anyone thinking that maybe this is a cyber attack by india? :irfan
Click to expand...

or maybe, Pakistan is doind mockup and testing its abilities of cyber attack, who knows. :yk
 
Bewal Express said:
On the back of the massacre in Balochistan, could this be a cyber attack?
Click to expand...

could be two or three things..it could be a genuine failure..could be a test of our own capabilities or a genuine cyber attack by India/Isreal/US..if the latter then expect a response in afghanistan..best to watch and see what happens..I suspect it is the former.

Our grid infrastructure is completely rubbish.
 
Pakistan need to tighten their defence in this area.
 
the Great Khan said:
could be two or three things..it could be a genuine failure..could be a test of our own capabilities or a genuine cyber attack by India/Isreal/US..if the latter then expect a response in afghanistan..best to watch and see what happens..I suspect it is the former.

Our grid infrastructure is completely rubbish.
Click to expand...

Poor Afghans get kerb stomped by everyone.
 
the Great Khan said:
could be two or three things..it could be a genuine failure..could be a test of our own capabilities or a genuine cyber attack by India/Isreal/US..if the latter then expect a response in afghanistan..best to watch and see what happens..I suspect it is the former.

Our grid infrastructure is completely rubbish.
Click to expand...

Line losses are far too heavy. But it takes large investment and years to fix. As NS once said why would I build a sewer system in Lahore where no one can see it.
 
saeedhk said:
Put this on the previous government too! Bunch of clowns!
Click to expand...

How much you have knowledge about electrical engineering that too in power field it would be good to know about your view point.

For the transmission part I can give you an example. Suppose you buy a super broadband having a speed of 1000MB and you start a business supplying clients bandwidth but you have LAN wire having capacity up to 250MB. So you need 4 of these but you only deployed 1. So regardless of your 1000MB you can only use 250MB. Since you have bought 1000MB to cover up costs you have clients of 1000MB. So when the peak of demand matches you internet will get disturbed for everyone. And in case somebody cuts it you cannot use alternative LAN wire to supply bandwidth. That’s why multiple transmission lines are important to increase power delivery and increase reliablity
 
saeedhk said:
If the government knew there was fault, why did they not fix it in almost 3 years of their term?
Click to expand...

Massive outage in east coast Canada and USA in 2003. Wonder if your reasons apply there. It is so evident that u have something against Pakistan and this present govt in general. Absolutely waste of time trying to reason with you. Maybe you should sit down with your masters in RSS and lick their boots as that seems more satisfactory to you.
 
I recall a series of European capitals suffering power outrages in 2004.

Could have been Russian cyberattacks, or could have been the nations carrying out exercises to prepare and harden themselves against such attacks.
 
ISLAMABAD: While it’s apparently true that a human error at the Guddu Power Station triggered a power outage on Saturday night, the main reason for its effects to be felt across much of the country was poor maintenance and subsequent failure of the protection system in the national grid.

This is what Dawn has found out in background discussions with senior officials, who concede that the events of Saturday night have served to expose mismanagement on the part of a government that has continued to run the entire power sector on an ad hoc basis.

The chief executive officers of all the three key companies concerned — the Central Power Generation Company-Guddu, National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) and National Power Control Centre (NPCC) — have been working on ad hoc or acting charge basis for years.


The Central Power Generation Company (CPGC) runs the Guddu Power Station where the initial technical fault was reported to have taken place.

The NTDC operates the country’s national grid whose protection system should have reacted to the Guddu station’s tripping and isolated the fault. Its system meant to stop the transmission frequency from dropping apparently did not work, resulting in the cascading closure of all the power plants across in the country in a matter of seconds.

The NPCC monitors the flow of electricity from power plants to various distribution companies (Discos). It has to manage supply systems for proper load and frequency balancing.

Even the Discos are working without regular chief executive officers for more than two and a half years.

The NTDC is without a regular chief executive officer since July 2017 while NPCC has not seen a full-time CEO for more than a decade. The NPCC chief, working on a temporary basis, was hired last year from the private sector.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has reportedly expressed displeasure over non-filling of the posts in power companies.

That a human error triggered the massive outage was indirectly confirmed by Engr Hammad Amer Hashmi on Sunday when he suspended seven employees of the Guddu station working under plant manager-III and blamed them of negligence.

A notification issued by Mr Hashmi said the seven employees had been “placed under suspension with immediate effect and until further orders, on account of the negligence of duty which caused electricity failure found in view of preliminary enquiry, which amounts to misconduct” under efficiency and discipline rules of 1978.

Those suspended were additional plant manager Suhail Ahmad, junior engineer Deedar Ali Cheema, foreman Ali Hussain Golo, and operators and attendants Ayyaz Hussain, Saeed Ahmed, Siraj Memon and Ilyas Ahmed.

At a news conference Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan said the breakdown occurred due to a technical fault at the Guddu station, which resulted in frequency declining from 50 to zero in seconds.

Officials said the initial fault appeared to have occurred at the Guddu station’s switchyard, but the protection system of the transmission network did not respond to the fault. The transmission system should have rejected the load from Guddu station through an automatic protection mechanism, but apparently this did not happen because of poor or insufficient maintenance and non-washing of transmission lines.

The Guddu-Sibi transmission line has been a familiar trouble spot because of extreme fog and other environmental issues and has seen tripping in the past as well.

The protection system had been separating southern and northern parts of the country’s grid in the past. “This is clearly a failure of the protection system,” said a retired senior officer.

He said the transmission lines used to be washed every year, sometimes repeatedly, depending on the fog in winters. He also called into question the past government claims that the protection system had been improved, particularly after the 2015 breakdown. Had the system been improved it would have gone into an island mode.

Saturday’s was the third such incident since 2015, which meant the protection system was either not upgraded or the upgrade was insufficient, said the retired officer.

Moreover, there were various frequency relays, like 50hz, 49.4hz and 48.5hz, which meant the system should start shedding 10-15 per cent load but the announcement by the energy ministry that frequency dropped suddenly to zero from 50hz meant the “patient died immediately, like in the case of a heart attack” and the protection mechanism did not respond.

“These relay system settings are upgraded every second or third year,” he said. The government should have upgraded the relay system given an increase in generation capacity.

Meanwhile, the officials said the transmission network had been synchronised for now, but the entire transmission and distribution network would take some time, may be until Monday (today), to completely stabilise as repeated load swings were being witnessed in many parts of the country.

The energy minister said the teams engaged in restoration and repair work faced difficulties due to heavy fog and the exact reason behind the technical fault would be identified once the fog went away.

The energy and information ministers criticised past governments for focusing solely on power generation and neglecting the transmission system. “Under the government of PML-N, the country witnessed eight major power breakdowns,” said Energy Minister Khan.

The two ministers also said an inquiry would be conducted through independent experts to find out the exact reason behind the breakdown. Mr Khan said the present government had installed anti-fog insulators in the last two years and invested Rs49 billion in the transmission system.

The power regulator, however, appeared to be watching the situation from a distance. An official said the regulator might take cognisance of the incident on Monday.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2021
 
The NTDC is without a regular chief executive officer since July 2017 while NPCC has not seen a full-time CEO for more than a decade. The NPCC chief, working on a temporary basis, was hired last year from the private sector.
Click to expand...

Another fine mess left by the two previous mujahids of Pakistan.

Also reading that article its quite clear that the previous govt was hell bent on increasing capacity but not improving infrastructure. I remember some threads about this during the PMLN govt on pakpassion.

Its just another mess IK will now have to fix. i mean have these choars left anything intact?

Coming onto the current govt, why didnt they initiate a review of the infrastructure and war game various scenarios? surely a blackout is one such scenario?

I hope this committee does something meaningful this time but again this will require a five to ten year infrastructure project to improve things..in other words its not happening anytime soon.

However they can do some short term fixes like appoint to vacant posts and ensure critical fail safes are working and in place..lets hope they do this in the next 2-3 yrs.

This quote was interesting too:

“Under the government of PML-N, the country witnessed eight major power breakdowns,” said Energy Minister Khan.
Click to expand...

so thats basically two a year approx. Wah khata bhi hay lagat bhi hay..lol..more like khata bhi hay mugur rajta nahin..
 
ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has taken the notice of Saturday's country-wide blackout.

The authority said in a statement that a high-powered committee will be constituted to probe the major power breakdown that plunged the entire country in darkness for over 14 hours.

The committee will consist experts from Nepra and the private sector. It will review the facts and make recommendations to avoid such incidents in future.

The blackout occurred minutes before midnight across the country, with citizens taking to social media to report outages. As outages hit major cities, mobile and internet services were also affected.

Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan said a technical fault was reported at the Guddu power plant at 11:41pm last night when the frequency fell from 50 to zero in seconds.

“We energised Tarbela power plant twice, which initiated the restoration process," he said, adding that electricity has been restored in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Jhang and Multan, while K-Electric has been provided 400MVA.

Omar Ayub said teams are facing difficulties due to heavy fog and the exact reason behind the technical fault will be identified once the fog lifts. "The reason for the breakdown has not been ascertained yet. The technical fault occurred in a particular area," he said.

He and Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz criticised past governments for focusing solely on power generation and neglecting the transmission system. "Under the government of PML-N, the country saw eight major power breakdowns," said the energy minister.

"When the incumbent government assumed office, no work had been done to upgrade the transmission system. We are now investing in the transmission and distribution system. A $6 billion transmission line has been laid in Matiari."
 
KARACHI: Power outages were reported in several areas of Karachi on Wednesday.

According to Geo News, close to a dozen neighbourhoods faced power outages for up to seven hours.

Read more: Massive power outage in Pakistan as several cities plunge into darkness

The areas most impacted included Malir, Gharibabad, Moinabad, Jaffar-e-Tayyar Society, Mehran Goth, Kathore, and Liaquat Market, where residents complained of loadshedding for seven-and-a-half hours.

Moreover, Korangi, Landhi, Gulshan-e-Maymar, Liaquatabad, F.C. Area, Orangi Town, Baldia Town, Banaras Town, Keamari, Gadap, Saeedabad, Manzoor Colony, and Old City Area had no power for three to six hours.

Sources at K-Electric said that while the demand for electricity in Karachi is 1,700 megawatts (MW), the city receives 800MW and 400MW power from the national grid and all other sources, respectively.

Related: Karachi load-shedding goes beyond 12 hours as K-Electric, SSGC spar over gas supply

This leaves a shortfall of 500MW of electricity.

'No unannounced load shedding'
"There is no unannounced or announced load shedding in Karachi," a spokesperson for the K-Electric said.

"When there is a power outage, it is because maintenance work is being carried out," said the spokesperson, adding: "For any repair work we do, we send a text message to the area residents in advance."
 
KARACHI: Karachi witnessed on Saturday a major power breakdown. Over half of the city lost electricity supply for several hours due to tripping of high tension power lines of K-Electric (KE).

The power supply was cut off at 2:30pm on Saturday and resumed after four to five hours. The power outage caused severe inconvenience to the people in the scorching hot weather.

The power utility company later updated that power generation through NKI and BQPS 2 was present in the power network, but supply from BQPS 1 would resume in the next two to three hours.
 
Prolonged and unannounced power outages continued in different parts of Karachi last night, adding to citizens' misery for several hours as oppressive heat and humidity made getting a decent night's sleep difficult.

In the meantime, those who have quarantined themselves after contracting Covid-19 experienced double the suffering due to hours-long power cuts.

The power supply remained suspended for varying periods in New Karachi, North Karachi, Nagan Chowrangi, UP Society, Gulberg, Kharadar, Scheme 33 among other areas.

Citizens living near Karachi Race Club, Karachi Revenue Judicial Society, Azimpura area of ​​Millat Town, Gulphashan Society, Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony, Korangi, and different parts of Malir also complained about unannounced power cuts.

The power supply was also suspended in Model Colony and Liaquatabad C-1 area from 12 noon yesterday and was only restored later at night.

KE claims power supply normal across city

As reports of power breakdowns trickled in, a K-Electric (KE) spokesperson claimed that the power supply in the city was normal, and KE staff members were only working to rectify a fault in Karachi's Korangi.

Businesses have collapsed, lament traders
On the other hand, traders have complained that their businesses have collapsed due to frequent power breakdowns, while teachers and students say intermittent and prolonged power cuts have affected their online classes.

Karachi Electronic Dealers Association President Rizwan Irfan shared with The News how their working hours had been reduced to only two due to the lockdown orders and power breakdowns.

Read more: Several areas of Karachi report power outages for up to 7 hours

“If there is electricity, our electric appliance shops will have customers in them,” he said, adding that their shops opened at around 12 noon or 1pm in the afternoon and they had to close them by 6pm due to the lockdown orders. “During the entire six hours of operations, we have at least a four-hour power breakdown. This drops our profits to only 10% to 15% of what we used to earn during this season,” he said.

“Our Saddar Electronic Market was the highest tax-paying market in the country and look where are we standing right now. We have no business. It’s time the government considers us making a tax-free zone. We have given enough tax. It’s time the government pays us back,” he said in frustration.

GEO
 
And now this....

==

Federal Energy Minister Hammad Azhar on Friday said the government would increase the power tariff by Rs1.39 per unit from November 1 because of the increasing circular debt of the country.

Addressing a news conference accompanied by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib, Hammad pointed out that the increase in power tariff would not be applicable to lifeline and domestic consumers, who used less than 200 units of electricity. “Therefore, this increase is not applicable to 46% of the consumer base," he claimed.

He said the major component of the circular debt was the capacity payment to the power plants that had now reached to Rs700-800 billion from Rs150 billion in 2013.

He said the circular debt would jump to Rs2.5-3 trillion by 2030, claiming that the past regimes had set up unnecessary expensive power plants in the country.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has revised its target from 15% to 13%.
"Despite all this, there is a difference between Rs1.5 to Rs2 in the rate at which the government is purchasing and selling electricity. This is the reason behind the increasing circular debt.”

Hammad further noted that the country now had the capacity to generate enough electricity and that was why the government wanted to increase demand.

“We introduced an industrial package last year which has been successful as we have seen a 15% increase in demand," he added.

“We have also seen a 6 to 7% increase in the demand for electricity as the peak hours for the industrial sector have been removed.”

The minister also announced that the government had decided to halt the ongoing schemes and new connections of Sui gas companies until legislation for a new pricing mechanism to bill consumers for imported gas was completed.

"Local gas reserves [are] depleting at a rate of 9pc per annum. Govt does not have legal mechanism to collect costs of imported gas from consumers. We have forged a consensus on new pricing mechanism but till its legislation, govt is halting all expansion in domestic gas networks," the minister tweeted earlier in the day.

Later at the news conference, the minister maintained that the need for the new mechanism -- weighted average cost -- was a measure to overcome gas shortage, which he attributed to the depletion of local reserves.

He noted that local gas reserves were depleting at such a rapid pace that it was now insufficient for fertiliser and other industries. "Currently, just 28% of the total households are receiving piped gas.”
"We are also planning to change the law to provide LNG to domestic consumers,” he said. “The government will not curtail demand without ensuring proper gas supply.”

He dispelled the impression that the gas shortage was consequence of insufficient procurement of LNG. “There is enough LNG in the system.”

The minister pointed out that the entire world was currently facing a gas crisis because its supply had been affected because of Covid-19. He maintained that gas prices had increased across the globe.

“Pakistan, however, does not face such an intense gas crisis,” the minister said. “The government is working on the North-South Gas Pipeline Project with Russia.”

He said the circular debt, which had been increasing at a rate of Rs450 billion when the PTI came to power, was now expanding at a reduced rate of Rs150 billion.

He added that the new mechanism would not affect the seasonal electricity package or the industrial package.

(With input from APP)
 
NEPRA allows Rs4.75 per unit hike in power tariff

ISLAMABAD:
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has allowed an increase of Rs4.7446 per unit in the power tariff, enabling Ex-WAPDA Discos (XWDISCOSs) to collect an additional Rs61 billion from consumers through December’s bills.

According to a notification issued by Nepra on Thursday, the increase comes on account of monthly Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) for October 2021 due to excessive use of refined furnace oil (RFO), high-speed diesel (HSD) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in power generation.

On November 30, Nepra conducted a public hearing on CPPA-G petition for monthly FCA with Chairman Tauseef H Farooqi in the chair and had reserved the judgment.

In the petition submitted to Nepra on behalf of XWDISOCs, CPPA-G said that for the month of October 2021, the reference fuel charges from the consumers were Rs5.1733 per unit while the actual fuel cost was Rs9.9261 per unit. Therefore, it should be allowed to pass the increase of Rs4.7528 per unit on to the consumers.

Due to the decrease in hydel, wind, bagasse and solar generation, expensive fuel such as HSD, RFO and LNG was used during October which had raised the generation cost.

The regulator was informed that excessive use of RFO also made electricity expensive. The electricity generated from RFO during October increased to 1,228.66 GWh from 997.44 GWh in September at the cost of Rs21.2273 per unit.

The generation from HSD increased from 2.34 GWh in September to 57.10 GWh in October. The cost of electricity generated from HSD was Rs25.2250 per unit.

As per the in-house analysis workings, it has been noted that around 1,228 GWh was generated from RFO and 57 GWh using HSD during the month of October 2021, whereas the capacities of RLNG, coal and gas-based efficient power plants were underutilised.

The net amount deductible, on a provisional basis, from the overall claim due to deviation from Economic Merit Order (EMO) due to underutilisation of efficient power plants works out at around Rs63.42 million.

Nepra decided to “deduct this amount provisionally in the instant FCA until NPCC, NTDC and CPPA-G provide the required details along with complete justification in this regard to the satisfaction of the authority”.

NTDCL, reported provisional T&T losses of 245.31 GWh based on energy delivered on NTDCL system during October 2021. The NTDC, in addition, also reported T&T losses of 20.55 G\Vh for PMLTC (HVDC). The NTDCL is allowed T&T losses of 2.80% only at 500KV and 220KV network, while PMLTC (HVDC) is allowed T&T losses of maximum up to 4.3%.

The authority has reviewed data provided by the CPPA-G and due diligence is done accordingly. From perusal of the information so provided by the CPPA-G, the actual pool fuel cost for the month of October 2021 is Rs9.9261 per unit, against the reference fuel cost component of Rs5.1733 per unit of the notified consumer-end tariff of XWDISOCs for the FY 2019-20.

The actual fuel charges, as reported by the CPPA-G, for the month of October 2021 increased by Rs4.7528 per unit as compared to the reference fuel charges.

During the hearing, the authority also observed that, prima facie, certain efficient power plants were not fully utilised and instead energy from costlier RFO/HSD-based power plants was generated to the tune of over Rs27,521 million during the month of October 2021.

The authority has been directing NPCC/NTDC and the CPPA-G repeatedly to provide complete justification in this regard, to the satisfaction of the authority and submit complete details for deviation from the EMO, showing hourly generation along with the financial impact for deviation from it, if any, and the reasons, thereof.

However, Nepra decided that the actual FCA for October 2021 was Rs9.9179 per unit against the Corresponding Reference Fuel Charge Component of Rs5.1733 per unit. Therefore, Nepra allowed an increase of Rs4.7446 per unit. The total impact of the tariff hike will be around Rs61 billion (FCA plus 17 per cent GST).

The increase shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except lifeline consumers and XWDISCOs shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of October 2021 in the billing month of December 2021.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2333292/nepra-allows-rs475-per-unit-hike-in-power-tariff
 
WASHINGTON, December 17, 2021—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved $195 million in financing to support Pakistan in improving electricity distribution and implementing energy sector reforms to increase service quality for consumers.

The Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project (EDEIP) will help distribution companies improve operations to manage the electricity supply more efficiently and increase the reliability of the electrical grid. It focuses on cost-saving interventions to increase revenue collection and reduce losses, and on modernizing operations by employing technology and information systems. The project will also invest in climate-resilient infrastructure, particularly grid stations and transmission lines, which are critical to distribution and utility services.

“The long-term financial viability of the power sector depends on improving the efficiency of electricity distribution companies that deliver electricity to consumers,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “These efforts will improve the operational and financial performance of select distribution companies to improve their bankability and ultimately generate more private sector participation.”

The EDEIP will support institutional reforms to improve governance and transparency and will develop systems and practices to improve managerial performance and compliance with regulatory requirements. In addition, the project will help build the technical capacity of the distribution companies by providing training programs, tools, and equipment to improve staff performance in key utility operations.

“The project will focus on strengthening operations and governance of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company, Multan Electric Power Company, and Peshawar Electric Supply Company,” said Mohammad Saqib Task Team Leader for the project. “With the leadership of the Ministry of Energy, this project will bolster market-sector reforms, reduce transmission and distribution losses, and improve the sector’s financial performance.”

The EDEIP complements ongoing power sector support from the World Bank, including on transmission network, renewable energy generation, as well as reforms through the Pakistan Program for Affordable and Clean Energy (PACE), which focuses on improving its financial viability and transitioning to low-carbon energy. The project will increase the reliability of electricity services for residential, agricultural, commercial, and industrial sector consumers in project areas, and will contribute to reducing carbon emissions.

The World Bank in Pakistan

Pakistan has been a member of the World Bank since 1950. Since then, the World Bank has provided $40 billion in assistance. The World Bank’s program in Pakistan is governed by the Country Partnership Strategy for FY2015-2020 with four priority areas of engagement: energy, private sector development, inclusion, and service delivery. The current portfolio has 58 projects and a total commitment of $13.8 billion.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/p...tricity-supply-and-distribution-for-consumers
 
MenInG said:
WASHINGTON, December 17, 2021—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved $195 million in financing to support Pakistan in improving electricity distribution and implementing energy sector reforms to increase service quality for consumers.

The Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project (EDEIP) will help distribution companies improve operations to manage the electricity supply more efficiently and increase the reliability of the electrical grid. It focuses on cost-saving interventions to increase revenue collection and reduce losses, and on modernizing operations by employing technology and information systems. The project will also invest in climate-resilient infrastructure, particularly grid stations and transmission lines, which are critical to distribution and utility services.

“The long-term financial viability of the power sector depends on improving the efficiency of electricity distribution companies that deliver electricity to consumers,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “These efforts will improve the operational and financial performance of select distribution companies to improve their bankability and ultimately generate more private sector participation.”

The EDEIP will support institutional reforms to improve governance and transparency and will develop systems and practices to improve managerial performance and compliance with regulatory requirements. In addition, the project will help build the technical capacity of the distribution companies by providing training programs, tools, and equipment to improve staff performance in key utility operations.

“The project will focus on strengthening operations and governance of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company, Multan Electric Power Company, and Peshawar Electric Supply Company,” said Mohammad Saqib Task Team Leader for the project. “With the leadership of the Ministry of Energy, this project will bolster market-sector reforms, reduce transmission and distribution losses, and improve the sector’s financial performance.”

The EDEIP complements ongoing power sector support from the World Bank, including on transmission network, renewable energy generation, as well as reforms through the Pakistan Program for Affordable and Clean Energy (PACE), which focuses on improving its financial viability and transitioning to low-carbon energy. The project will increase the reliability of electricity services for residential, agricultural, commercial, and industrial sector consumers in project areas, and will contribute to reducing carbon emissions.

The World Bank in Pakistan

Pakistan has been a member of the World Bank since 1950. Since then, the World Bank has provided $40 billion in assistance. The World Bank’s program in Pakistan is governed by the Country Partnership Strategy for FY2015-2020 with four priority areas of engagement: energy, private sector development, inclusion, and service delivery. The current portfolio has 58 projects and a total commitment of $13.8 billion.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/p...tricity-supply-and-distribution-for-consumers
Click to expand...

This should be a much better investment source as opposed to Chinese backed capital sources. Let's hope it results in positive changes on the ground.
 
Electricity rates are likely to be jacked up by Rs3.12 per unit after a request for the same by Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) has been made to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).

The request to approve an increase of Rs3.12 per unit in electricity prices on account of Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) for December 2021, will be heard in NEPRA today.

The CPPA on behalf of power distribution companies (DISCOs) and K-Electric has filed separate applications with NEPRA under the head FCA of December, 2021.

The application says that more than 8 billion units of electricity were generated in December 2021, adding that that power was generated at the cost of Rs73.84 billion.

The most expensive electricity was generated from furnace oil.

The cost of the electricity generated from diesel was Rs14-8 paisa per unit while the cost of power generation from coal was 13 rupees 31 paise per unit, the application added.

“Electricity was imported from Iran at Rs13.26 per unit.”

Earlier this month, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had reduced the price of electricity by Rs0.76 per unit for K-Electric (KE) consumers on account of Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) for the month of November 2021 and had issued a notification to this effect.

According to NEPRA notification, the price of electricity for KE consumers has been reduced by Rs0.7591 per unit under the head FCA of November 2021 which will be reflected in the KE consumers bills for February 2022.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2341432/rs312-per-unit-increase-likely-in-electricity-prices
 
The government has decided to further increase electricity prices by Rs2.8 per unit to collect an additional Rs292 billion from consumers aimed at bringing the vicious circular debt down that remains high despite massively increasing the prices.

A cabinet body on Thursday approved the revised Circular Debt Management Plan (July 2021-June 2023), which disclosed that from February to July this year, power tariff would go up by Rs2.8 per unit in two phases.

The decision has been taken according to an understanding reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the collection of an additional Rs292 billion from consumers between February 2022 and June 2023 to push the circular debt down.

However, the revised plan showed that the consumers have been burdened more while the efficiency improvement targets have been eased further, suggesting the continuation of the policy to punish the consumers for the inefficiency of power distribution companies and bad governance by the ministry.

The Rs2.8-per-unit increase will be implemented in two phases on account of annual tariff adjustments, which have been agreed with the IMF, said the sources.

Headed by Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, the Cabinet Committee on Energy on Thursday approved the revised plan.

The gap in consumer reference rate and the projected cost of power supply will be mitigated through timely increase in tariff, according to the plan approved by the CCOE.

The first increase of a minimum of 63 paisa is expected to be implemented from this month, which will yield Rs85 billion to the government till June next year.

However, the Ministry of Energy informed the cabinet body that the increase could be up to 75 paisa per unit due to the higher-than-expected currency devaluation.

In its report last week, the IMF said that the FY22 annual rebasing of tariff was on track to be notified by February 2022 as per the updated CDMP, which would help contain the monthly fuel price adjustments (FPA).

Another increase of Rs2.17 per unit will be enforced in July, which will place an additional burden of Rs207 billion on the consumers, according to the decision.

The revised Circular Debt Management Plan for the remaining period of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government revealed that in spite of putting an unbearable burden on the consumers, the circular debt would be at least Rs448 billion higher than the level approved by the federal cabinet 10 months ago for the current fiscal year.

In the past four months, the government increased the electricity tariff by Rs3.83 per unit on account of quarterly and annual base tariff adjustments, which placed a burden of Rs368 billion on the consumers.

After the huge increase in tariffs, there is some hope that the circular debt will start coming down but the numbers indicate the opposite.

In March last year, when the federal cabinet had approved the original plan, it set the circular debt reduction target at Rs1.44 trillion for June 2022.

However, the revised plan showed that the circular debt would still be Rs1.9 trillion, showing a deviation of Rs448 billion within 10 months. Even in June 2023, the projected debt level is Rs1.53 trillion, far higher than what the PTI government took from the PML-N.

The way the debt grew during the first half of current fiscal year, it seems that the circular debt may remain even higher than the Rs1.9 trillion projected for June this year.

The Rs448 billion deviation from the March 2021 plan was because the government delayed the planned increase in electricity prices, said Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar.

He said that the revised plan had been finalised in consultation with the IMF.

The Circular Debt Management Plan showed that in October the government increased the electricity price by Rs1.66 per unit to raise Rs164 billion through quarterly adjustments.

Then in November, the tariff went up by Rs1.39 per unit as part of the annual base tariff to raise Rs152 billion.

DISCOs’ governance

While the government has decided to increase the electricity prices, it relaxed the targets set to reduce line losses and improve the recovery of bills, admitting that it failed to bring improvement in the governance of power distribution companies.

Read: Power tariff goes up Rs4.3 per unit

In March last year, the government had planned to reduce the circular debt by Rs334 billion through a 2.12% reduction in line losses and the improvement in electricity bill recoveries by 5.73% till June 2023.

However, the revised plan showed that the government had reduced the gains from improvements by Rs103 billion to Rs231 billion that too seemed ambitious as a majority of gains had been shown in the next fiscal year.

For instance, the government had earlier planned to increase recoveries to nearly 95% of the billed amount, which has now been slashed to 92.5% - a deterioration of 2.5%.

Iesco’s recovery target has been reduced by 10%, Pesco’s 4% and Qesco’s 16% for the current fiscal year.

Circular debt situation

In spite of significantly increasing the electricity prices, the circular debt has more than doubled in three and a half years to Rs2.48 trillion due to the government’s failure to stem the systemic losses.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2022.
 
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Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin informed the Senate on Friday that Pakistan will start using the Saudi oil facility on deferred payments from next month.

Last week, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia agreed to operationalise the kingdom’s oil facility at the earliest for which an agreement worth $1.2 billion for the import of petroleum products was signed on November 29, 2021, between the two countries.

As per the financing agreement, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) will extend the financing facility up to $100 million per month for one year for the purchase of petroleum products on a deferred payment basis.

During the question hour in the Upper House of the parliament held earlier today, the minister said: "Pakistan received $3 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia in the month of December 2021 for a period of one year at four per cent interest rate."

Talking about the rising oil prices, he said the government has tried not to pass the full burden of the international increase in petroleum products on to the people.

He also said the finance ministry had reduced the sales tax and Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) on petroleum products to provide relief to the masses.

Tarin mentioned that "the foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan have increased over the last year, which will help reduce pressure on the rupee," adding that the country’s exports and remittances were also increasing whilst the trade deficit reduced by $1.5 billion dollars last month.
 
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has taken the government to task after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) approved an increase of Rs3.10 per unit in electricity prices on account of Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) for December 2021.

Rejecting the increase in electricity rates, the PML-N president and leader of the opposition in National Assembly said in a statement that the PTI-led government had done nothing to provide relief to the masses during its nearly four years in power.

Shehbaz said the miseries of the people could only be ended with the removal of “corrupt and incompetent” rulers.

“Now the time is ripe for the people to issue a no-confidence motion against them. We will rid the country from this tyrant regime.

“It has been proved that the government has only plans for inflation and corruption,” he remarked.

Shehbaz said instead of taking steps to ease inflation, the government was only increasing suffering of the people.

“Imran Niazi [Prime Minister Imran Khan] should step down instead of taking people's lives through skyrocketing inflation,” he added.

Also read: PDM announces no-trust motion against PM Imran’s govt

Likewise, JUI-F chief Maualana Fazlur Rehman also lashed out at the government’s policies saying that the PTI-led regime had failed on all fronts from foreign policy to economy.

Addressing a religious event near Lahore, Fazl asked if the country’s economy had been growing then why the finance ministry did not get appreciation award.

Fazl, who also heads the anti-government alliance, PDM, also questioned government’s claims of running a successful foreign policy, saying “then why Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was not given any award”.

“[PM] Imran Khan went to China where the Chinese leadership held talks with him via video link because China is not happy with Pakistan over the matter of CPEC,” he claimed.

He was referring to the recent ceremony where PM Imran awarded appreciation certificates to the top ten best performing federal ministers.

In order of performance, the top ministries are communications; planning and development; poverty alleviation and social safety division; education and professional training; human rights, industries and production; national security division; commerce; interior, and national food security and research.

Fazl said PM Imran was distributing awards among ministers while the common man was “suffering under poverty and unprecedented inflation”.
 
The Power Division on Thursday informed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that there was currently no shortage of electricity in the country and power plants were closed because they either did not have fuel to run them or they faced technical difficulties – holding the “incompetence” of the previous PTI regime responsible for the problems faced by the sector.

PM Shehbaz was further informed that 18 power plants in the country were not functioning for the last one year because of closed units or technical faults.

The Power Division added that these power plants were closed because of faulty wiring or their belts were broken. It added that seven other power plants were shut because they did not have fuel. Nine other plants were closed because they had not paid their bills.

The premier was further told that the previous PTI government had not fixed the technical faults in time or replaced spare parts.

Most of the defects are administrative in nature and some are related to policy decisions.

The 18 power plants include Port Qasim, Guddu, Muzaffargarh, Kot Addu Power Company and Jamshoro.

The seven power plants shut down because of the lack of fuel include Nandipur and Sahiwal, which generate electricity using cheap coal.

A total of nine power plants have been shut down since December 2021 because of their failure to pay bills and lack of money to buy fuel. They have a total electricity generating capacity of 3,535 MW.

The 18 plants closed because of technical faults could generate a total of 3,605 MW of electricity.

PM Shehbaz expressed his displeasure over the situation and directed that the technical defects should be rectified immediately.

“The people are suffering from power outages. Such negligence is unbearable” he added, directing the authorities concerned to take immediate action.

Separately, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has taken notice of the power outages in the country. It had held the shut power plants responsible for the problem.

NEPRA has summoned the heads of power plants closed because of fuel shortage or technical glitches at its headquarters on Friday (today).

It has also called the National Power Control Centre (NPCC) and Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) to the huddle.

The authority has also summoned distribution companies including K- Electric on April 19 over consumers’ complaints.

PM Shehbaz also presided over a huddle of economic experts to chalk out a strategy to lift the country out of its financial woes.

He directed his economic team to formulate an economic reforms strategy on an emergency basis.

The prime minister ordered the authorities concerned to take steps on a priority basis to improve the overall economic situation of the country as well as to control the rising inflation.

The finance ministry gave a detailed briefing to the prime minister, who expressed his concerns over the worrisome economic indicators.

PML-N leaders including Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Miftah Ismail, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Zubair Umar, Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Tariq Mahmood Pasha and Bilal Kiyani also attended the meeting.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2352688/18-power-plants-shut-on-technical-grounds
 
As soon they come back,the shortages start. I bet some up IPPs will be given 500bn to stop the shortages. Its pay back time for their patrons
 
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Why did load shedding return in recent years?

18 power plants are closed because of wiring issues, 7 lack gas and 9 out of cash. All of these can generate up to 8,000 megawatt. Expected to become operational again around Eid.

-Report by Power Division.

PTI followers would like us to think that the power shortage is caused by the government that has been in power for 4 days. When it was Imran Khan's time they would say "He can't clear the mess of the previous government in 3 years" yet they expect Shahbaz to clear the mess of Imran's government in 3 days.

I mean, I'm glad we have such high standards from Shehbaz and expect so much from him. This shows that people believe more in Shehbaz's administration, governance and competence as they did in Imran's which is what we have been saying since day one.

277764382_5370269066331298_4336972610460223196_n.jpg
 
uberkoen said:
Why did load shedding return in recent years?

18 power plants are closed because of wiring issues, 7 lack gas and 9 out of cash. All of these can generate up to 8,000 megawatt. Expected to become operational again around Eid.

-Report by Power Division.

PTI followers would like us to think that the power shortage is caused by the government that has been in power for 4 days. When it was Imran Khan's time they would say "He can't clear the mess of the previous government in 3 years" yet they expect Shahbaz to clear the mess of Imran's government in 3 days.

I mean, I'm glad we have such high standards from Shehbaz and expect so much from him. This shows that people believe more in Shehbaz's administration, governance and competence as they did in Imran's which is what we have been saying since day one.

View attachment 115654
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No load shedding when IK is in power. As soon as the crooks come in, it starts. IPPs and their friends are in the money
 
Bewal Express said:
The IPPs were given billions illegal by the Nooras. Look at the contrast in these 2 reports. See of someone as simple as you can spot the difference

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/643321-after-sugar-wheat-imran-stares-down-power-mafia

And this huge amount without any audit

https://www.dawn.com/news/1031180
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Again, you're diverting from the topic. I shouldn't be surprised though because you've been doing that a lot recently. You brought up a topic of load shedding and ran off to something else when challenged on your statement that there was no load shedding during Imran's tenure.
 
uberkoen said:
Again, you're diverting from the topic. I shouldn't be surprised though because you've been doing that a lot recently. You brought up a topic of load shedding and ran off to something else when challenged on your statement that there was no load shedding during Imran's tenure.
Click to expand...

So telling you that IPPs are front for the mafia is diverting the topic. And what do IPPs do? And who lost out when IK reform the sector last year? You ain't the sharpest tool in the box
 
Pakistan is cutting electricity to households and industry as the cash-strapped country can no longer afford to buy coal or natural gas from overseas to fuel its power plants.
The South Asian nation is struggling to procure fuel from the spot market after prices of liquefied natural gas and coal surged to records last month as the war in Ukraine exacerbated supply shortfalls. Pakistan's energy costs more than doubled to $15 billion in nine months ended February from a year earlier, and it isn't able to spend more on additional shipments.

About 3,500 megawatts worth of power capacity had been shut due to the fuel shortages as of April 13, according to a Twitter post by Miftah Ismail, who has been selected as finance minister by new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. A similar amount is offline due to technical faults, he said. The more than 7,000 megawatts represents almost a fifth of total generation capacity, according to Tahir Abbas, the head of research at Arif Habib Ltd. in Karachi.

The electricity crunch is complicating the already tough economic challenge for Sharif -- who has yet to appoint an energy minister -- after former leader Imran Khan was ousted last week following a period of political turmoil. A relatively poor nation that's highly dependent on energy imports, Pakistan has been hit especially hard by rising fuel costs.

Pakistan's long-term LNG suppliers canceled several shipments scheduled for delivery over the last few months, further tightening supplies. The nation released a tender on Sunday to procure six LNG cargoes from the spot market, but that could end up costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars if fully awarded.

"Pakistan's situation will not change in the near term since global dynamics are still the same," said Samiullah Tariq, head of research at Pakistan Kuwait Investment Co. "There have been forced outages to deal with the energy shortages."


NDTV
 
ISLAMABAD:
Against the claim of the previous PTI regime of leaving the county in the “best running condition”, the electricity shortfall in the country has hit nearly 7,100 MW while the duration of unannounced power outages have reached 10 hours.

The chairman of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) lambasted the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) chief for the power outages in the federal capital that were eight hours long.

In some areas where the line losses are greater, residents are being subjected to 18 hours of power outages.

Sources in the Power Division said 900 MW of electricity was being produced through hydroelectric generation.

They added that Tarbela Dam was empty for the last 60 days as water storage was currently halted in the reservoir because of the development work under way on its third and fourth extension projects.

Read: NEPRA raises power tariff by Rs4.8 per unit

The sources said Tarbela Dam was currently generating 600 MW of electricity only.

Similarly, they said Mangla Dam too had almost hit a dead level.

The sources said he government-owned thermal power plants the capacity to produce over 4000 MW of electricity but several of them were shut because of technical faults while other were closed due to fuel shortage.

They added that the government-owned thermal power plants were currently generating 200 MW of electricity.

The Power Division sources said independent power producers (IPPs) were closed because finance oil, coal, and LNG were unavailable.

They added that IPPs were currently generating 11,500 MW of electricity.

The country’s total power generation stood at 14,400 MW against the demand for than 21,500 MW.

Around 2,000 MW of electricity is being wasted due to technical problems of power distribution companies.

The sources said the non-utilisation of generated electricity was causing a daily loss of Rs3 billion to the economy.

Separately, Nepra held a hearing for the renewal of licences of power distribution companies.

IESCO CEO Dr Muhammad Amjad told Nepra that his company had the lowest losses and its recovery rate was also better than the rest.

Nepra chairman Tauseef Farooqi told the IESCO CEO that his wife had informed him that the power was out for eight hours.

He added that the house in front of his residence suffered power outages twice.

“If you are in this condition, what would be the case of the rest of the distribution companies?”

The Nepra chairman said that the authority would examine the last five-year performance of the distribution companies and then renew their licences.

He directed the power distribution companies to submit their five-year annual reports to Nepra.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2353725/power-shortage-grips-country-yet-again
 
LAHORE: As the country goes through large scale electricity load-shedding, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the department concerned to slash power outages by the next month, The News reported Monday.

The directive came during PM Shehbaz Sharif's visit to different departments during a hectic tour of Lahore on weekly off-day Sunday.

The premier also held back-to-back meetings and took notice of the widely reported issue. He said that immediate steps must be taken to reduce power outages and minimise the sufferings of people by the next month, May 2022.

"Until we get rid of load-shedding, I will not leave for China, and I will not allow anyone to relax," PM Shehbaz Sharif said, adding that people were in trouble due to criminal negligence of the previous government.

The prime minister said that short and long-term measures should be taken till sufficient quantity of oil and gas was arranged to operationalise closed thermal power plants. He claimed that the outgoing government, led by Imran Khan, failed to add a single unit to the national grid, and also did not import LNG on cheaper rates on time.

PM Shehbaz said it was ironic that the Imran government closed the most efficient and affordable power plants, installed by the PML-N government and used expensive and inefficient plants. He said the nation was paying Rs100 billion monthly due to wrong decisions of the Imran government. He said due to the negligence of the previous rulers, one LNG ship that was available for Rs6 billion is now costing the country Rs20 billion.

"As such the nation will have to pay Rs500 billion extra this year,” the prime minister said, adding that the previous rulers hatched a conspiracy to bankrupt Pakistan's economy by destroying the energy sector.

GEO
 
Shehbaz govt promises end to power outages from May 1
Premier takes notice of diesel shortage, orders uninterrupted supply to farmers

ISLAMABAD:
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced an "end to power outages across the country from May 1" to provide relief to the public ahead of Eid.

The prime minister declared that the government had operationalised 20 out of 27 major power plants that had been closed for a year owing to lack of fuel and other operational reasons.

Chairing a high-level meeting to devise a policy to address the shortage of electricity, PM Shehbaz said the step was an "Eid gift for the public who had been suffering frequent power outages".

The prime minister directed the authorities concerned to resolve all the issues pertaining to load-shedding by April 30 to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted power supply to consumers.

Read: Power cuts return as shortfall tops 7,000MW

The meeting was briefed that the re-operationalisation of the 20 power plants had increased power generation. It was pointed out that the previous government did not purchase fuel for power plants in four years, which led to excessive load-shedding.

The meeting was apprised that the government of PM Shehbaz "managed the availability of fuel within two weeks and increased the power generation". It was informed that the total power generation in the country was about 18,500 megawatts while the shortfall was between 500 to 2,000 megawatts.

The premier stressed establishing an integrated and sustainable fuel system to meet the requirements of power generation and also a plan keeping in view the hot season in particular. Shehbaz called for a long-term effective plan to eliminate the feeder losses of the power distribution companies.

Shahbaz after assuming the office had ordered to operationalise power plants in the country that were shut down due to the lack of fuel or other technical glitches. He had also ordered to address other causes of load-shedding, including negligence in timely repair and lack of maintenance of power plants.

Diesel shortage

The premier also took notice of the complaints of "artificial shortage" of diesel during harvesting and directed the relevant authorities to identify the perpetrators and ensure strict action.

The prime minister emphasised an uninterrupted supply of diesel to farmers to run agricultural machinery and urged the district administration in rural areas to facilitate the farmers.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and relevant senior officials.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2354299/shehbaz-govt-promises-end-to-power-outages-from-may-1
 
uberkoen said:
I don't believe you live in Pakistan if you think there was no load shedding during IK's tenure.
Click to expand...

Load shedding was substantially low in the previous tenure of PMLN before PTI came to power. Over the last 4 years it has steadily increased.
 
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday indicated an increase by Rs4.83 per unit for K-Electric (KE) consumers.

The Nepra chairman presided over a public hearing in the federal capital.

The KE had sought an increase by Rs5.27 per unit on account of fuel adjustment for the month of March 2022.

During the hearing, the power regulator remarked that the tariff increase amounted to Rs4.83 per unit according to the scrutiny of the data, adding that a decision would be taken after complete examination of the KE data.

The power consumers of Karachi would bear an additional burden of around Rs8.59 billion if the tariff is approved.

Meanwhile, Nepra also conducted public hearing regarding other power distribution companies where it indicated an increase in tariff by Rs2.87 per unit for their consumers. The tariff hike had been requested under fuel charges adjustment for the month of March this year.

On April 15, Nepra had increased the electricity price by Rs4.85 per unit on the account of monthly fuel charges adjustment for the month of February after conducting a hearing on the plea of Central Power Purchasing Agency (CCPA-G). The Lifeline and KE consumers were exempted from the tariff hike.

A spokesperson for KE said that the price of furnace oil had increased by 10% and that of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) by 40% between December 2021 and March 2022.

He said the price of electricity purchased from CPPA-G was also raised by 9% in March.

“The effects of the changes in the price of fuel and electricity obtained from CPPA-G are in accordance with the rules of NEPRA.”

The increase in the power tariff would directly be passed on to the city’s power consumers for one month. The surge and cut in fuel charges adjustment under the tariff system was passed on to the consumers through their monthly bills under a fixed formula.

These charges were applied after Nepra’s investigation into the claims made by KE and government-owned entities (XWDISCOs) following an independent public hearing.

In addition to transferring prices to consumers, Nepra also determines the period for which the tariff hike is applicable.

Earlier, the KE had filed a request for fuel charges adjustment of Rs4.87 per unit for the month of March this year. However, it filed a revised request for fuel charges adjustment for the same month because of a change in the CPPA-G’s rate and requested Rs5.27 per unit increase in the tariff.

On March 30, Nepra had already notified Rs3.278 per unit increase in the tariff for the KE consumers on account of fuel charges adjustment for the month of January 2022.

The fuel charges adjustment for January were charged in the billing month of April 2022.The tariff hike had put an additional burden of Rs3.586 billion on the residents of Karachi.

Discos tariff

Nepra also conducted hearing regarding increase in tariff for other power distribution companies on account of fuel adjustment.

The power regulator indicated that the consumers would be charged a reduced tariff by Rs1.98 per unit for March fuel adjustment as compared to February. Earlier, the power consumers had paid Rs4.85 per unit on account of fuel adjustment for month of February.

Now, regulator indicated an increase by Rs2.87 per unit in tariff on account of fuel adjustment for month of March 2022. The increase would be charged in the bills of May.

Meanwhile, the CPPA-G had requested an increase of Rs3.16 per unit on account of fuel adjustment for month of March. Nepra reserved its judgment and would issue a decision later.

Express Tribune
 
Must be the blessings of the month!

==

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed distribution companies against carrying out loadshedding during three days of Eid ul Fitr and warned those who fail to implement the directive, ARY NEWS reported.

According to sources privy to the development, the federal government has sought details of power generation and consumption during the Eid days.

“Directives have been issued to supply adequate fuel and gas to all power generation companies,” they said adding, previously a shortage in supply of fuel and gas to the power plants had led to loadshedding in the country.

==

So magically we can afford not to have this on Eid.
 
A massive scam has started with these crooks. Why suddenly do we have such shortages when they come to power.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistanis nowadays:<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Loadshedding?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Loadshedding</a> <a href="https://t.co/2bGHeCk2o5">pic.twitter.com/2bGHeCk2o5</a></p>— Hamza&#55357;&#56484; (@dfa_hoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfa_hoo/status/1519296257298251777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
MenInG said:
Must be the blessings of the month!

==

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed distribution companies against carrying out loadshedding during three days of Eid ul Fitr and warned those who fail to implement the directive, ARY NEWS reported.

According to sources privy to the development, the federal government has sought details of power generation and consumption during the Eid days.

“Directives have been issued to supply adequate fuel and gas to all power generation companies,” they said adding, previously a shortage in supply of fuel and gas to the power plants had led to loadshedding in the country.

==

So magically we can afford not to have this on Eid.
Click to expand...

It's the factories being closed so power will be not consumed there I believe.
 
Energy said:
Load shedding was substantially low in the previous tenure of PMLN before PTI came to power. Over the last 4 years it has steadily increased.
Click to expand...

It did not increase as far as rural areas are concerned.It was getting better and better.
 
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