Cabinet directs strategy to prevent recurrence of power outages

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet ordered the authorities concerned for formulation of a comprehensive strategy to prevent the recurrence of prolonged power outages in the future and to do away with the factors causing it, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, also approved a nationwide public awareness drive on conservation of power, water, gas and other resources to make the people develop such habits.

The meeting also called for inclusion of the subject of best international practices on energy conservation in the educational curriculum.

It was told that energy conservation efforts at public, private, domestic and commercial level would help reduce the import bill of petroleum products which had increased remarkably during last seven years.

Besides, the behavioral changes would also save billions of rupees of foreign exchange and reduce the electricity bills of individuals by 30 to 40 percent.

The cabinet meeting was told that committee formed by the prime minister in the power outage had started functioning which would furnish a comprehensive report after deliberating over all the factors.

The energy minister told the meeting that, as per initial report, the power supply tripped at 0734 hours on Monday, due to technical fault, voltage fluctuation and frequency disruption.

It was told that as per prime minister’s directives, all-out resources were used and power supply was restored in all main cities by 2200 hours.

A day earlier, many parts of the country including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Quetta plunged into darkness as a high-tension electricity supply line between Quetta and Guddu caused a major power breakdown.

Reasons revealed

The extreme shortfall in electricity generation said to be significant cause of the power breakdown that hit various parts of the country.

Power generation was lower than 7,000 megawatts, this morning, well-placed sources said. “Hydel power generation in the country goes down to 90 percent, while thermal power generation by 70 pct,” according to sources.