'Energy shortfall' of 8500 megawatts woe Pakistanis

Pakistan's overall energy shortfall has exceeded 8,500 megawatts, whereas the requirement stands at 28,500 megawatts, according to the sources, Geo TV reported.

The citizens are in distress as the heatwave-like conditions across the country add up to the energy shortage. The sources familiar with the matter said that the country's total energy requirement stands at 28,500 megawatts, while it was producing around 20,000 megawatts, according to Geo TV.

On Saturday, the mercury went up to over 40 degrees Celsius in most parts of the country which led to an increase in demand for electricity for cooling purposes. As a result, the power demand stretched, but the supply remained stalled.

The people suffering in Pakistan continue to be unabated, no matter if it is the low-demand winter months or the peak-load summer season.

"They are deprived of power supply on one account or another, whether it is a so-called load management plan, approved shutdowns, technical power failures, or intense fluctuations in voltage resulting in brownouts," sources said, as per Geo TV.

A relatively new phenomenon of intense nocturnal load-shedding has added misery to already suffering masses on account of distressing power cuts. Night-time outages have been seen at an all-time high under such secretive moves by the energy establishment.

Masses are subjected to as many as three-six hours of load-shedding in urban areas daily, compared to earlier one-two hour between 7 pm and 5 am, Geo Tv reported citing The News International.

It is in contrast to the announced outage of up to four hours in 24 hours. But as far as demand and supply are concerned, the federal power minister has a different view of what is going on in the country.

Federal Minister for Power of Pakistan Khurram Dastagir claimed on Saturday that over-four-hours-a-day power suspension is being made in only 3 percent of feeders in the national power grid, which excludes K-Electric being a privatised entity, according to Geo News.

The minister cited June 23 power figures and said that a new national record of a total of 30,089 megawatts of power demand has been set. He claimed that as many as 92 percent of feeders in the country suffered less than three hours of load-shedding per day.

However, power outages on account of technical failures or overloading of systems have not been included in the data shared by the minister as it was limited to the much-touted load management plan only, as per Geo TV.

People's problems associated with fragile power transmission and distribution systems are far deeper and agonising than what was portrayed by the government.

Moreover, Punjab's capital, Lahore Electric Power Company (LESCO) is facing a shortfall of 1,000 megawatts -- the demand stands at 5,700 megawatts, and the supply is at 5,700 megawatts, the sources said, according to Geo TV.