Govt added 11461 MW of electricity to national grid: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday said the government had successfully overcome the challenge of power shortage by adding 11461 megawatt of electricity to the national grid in last five years.

“The country’s power generation capacity increased from 18,753 MW in 2013 to 28,704 MW this year,” he said while addressing a news conference in Islamabad along with Minister for Power Awais Leghari and Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb to present his government’s performance in energy sector.

He said in July 2013, 9.9 billion units were produced, whereas in July this year, the actual production will rise to 14.6 billion units, showing an increase of 4.75 billion units.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the situation of electricity available this Ramazan was much better than that of the previous years. He said there was zero load-shedding in 90 percent areas during the peak hours.

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He said two to four hours load-shedding was being carried out in the 10 percent feeders where high losses were reported.

The PM said a minor shortfall of about 362 MW was likely to be faced next month. He said the demand was expected to be 22538 MW and generation to be 22175 MW. He said in July, there would be shortfall of about 403 MW.

“This shortfall is expected due to decrease in water supply. After July, the country will have surplus energy,” he said.

Abbasi said the government had addressed the electricity issue viewing the future demand. He said 10687 MW would be added to the national grid in the next three years, while another 17119 MW will be generated in the following five years. He said the government had initiated projects to meet the country’s energy demand till 2025.

Explaining the electricity demand and supply issue, the prime minister said since additional electricity was being produced during the PML-N government, its demand also rose by 25 percent. He said the highest electricity demand was recorded on Monday at 24800 MW, which was a record.

He said power consumption increased by 45 percent during the last five years.

“Hydropower electricity generation decreased by 3000MW in May this year as compared with the corresponding period last year due to low water inflow in the dams,” he said.

To a query, the premier said the Council of Common Interests had approved Pakistan’s first ever water policy, which was to be implemented now. He said two water reservoirs namely Bhasha and Mohmand dams were to be built to meet water challenge in the country.

To another question, he said the incumbent government was going to leave less circular debt than it inherited in 2013.