'Zero' power shortfall in the country, says Omar Ayub Khan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division), Omar Ayub Khan, said on Sunday that electricity shortfall stood at ‘zero’ as of power generation was more than the figure demand and supply of the country, ARY News reported.

Omar Ayub Khan, in his latest Twitter message, detailed that the demand of power stood at 14,840 megawatts after the availability of 17,100 MW electricity in the national system as per statistics provided for “today’s (Sunday) 8:30 pm”.

The federal minister clarified that announced load management was continued in the areas facing losses due to electricity theft and other [technical] reasons.

آج صبح 8:30 پر ملک میں بجلی کی طلب و رسد کے اعداد و شمار :۔۔ کل سسٹم ڈیمانڈ : 14840 میگاواٹ۔ سسٹم میں دستیاب بجلی کی پیداوار:- 17100 میگاواٹ ، شارٹ فال :زیرو، صرف جن علاقوں میں چوری اور دیگر وجوہات کی وجہ سے نقصانات ہیں ادھر تناسب سے اعلانیہ لوڈ مینجمنٹ ہے۔

— Omar Ayub Khan (@OmarAyubKhan) April 7, 2019

On February 22, the federal minister had said that this government has inherited fragile power generation and distribution systems.

He said affordable electricity is necessary for progress of a country.

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The power minister said that the government wants to slash the price of electricity to make it affordable and is correcting its direction for improvement.

Omar Ayub said supplying cheaper power to countrymen is the foremost priority of the government.

The minister said that the government wants to minimize dependence on oil for power generation. “We will move forward towards inexpensive alternate sources of energy,” Khan further said.

The energy minister said that the government bringing foreign direct investment in Pakistan. He promised around 30 to 40 bln dollars investment in the energy sector.