— LHC asks Centre to explain frequent nationwide power outages
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Electricity supplies to homes, businesses and factories across Pakistan have been cut for several hours a day over the past few days as the country grapples with a 6,530 megawatts power deficit.
The power supply remained at 20,170 megawatts against the nationwide demand of 26,700 megawatts.
“Major urban centres are witnessing load-shedding duration of 10 hours while the rural areas are facing power outages of up to 15 hours,” multiple reports said, citing sources.
Interestingly, only a year ago, Pakistan was generating more electricity than it needed. Large-scale construction of new power plants — largely coal-fired ones funded by China — had dramatically boosted the nation’s energy capacity.
“It’s true. We are producing much more than we need,” Tabish Gauhar, former special assistant to then-prime minister Imran Khan on power, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The situation is likely to worsen as summer intensifies, when air conditioners are switched on full blast.
Currently, the country gets 64 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels, with another 27 percent from hydropower, 5 percent from nuclear power and just 4 percent from renewables such as solar and wind.
REPORT SOUGHT
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) sought a reply from the federal government on two separate petitions pertaining to power outages and inflation.
The Judicial Activism Panel (JAP) filed the two petitions, on power crisis and inflation, which were taken up by Justice Shahid Karim.
Press reports suggest loadshedding in Lahore has worsened of late, with people continuing to suffer from power outages for six to eight hours daily.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over a meeting to discuss loadshedding and directed the relevant authorities to come up within 24 hours with an ‘emergency plan’ aimed at reduction in the electricity loadshedding.
Subsequently, on Tuesday, the government announced after a federal cabinet meeting several measures to conserve electricity amidst a drastic nationwide shortfall.
