ISLAMABAD:
Federal Energy Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Friday announced the end of electricity load management across the country, attributing the improvement to the arrival of liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies and increased hydropower generation.
Talking about power shortage, the minister said that Pakistan had received a consignment of LNG the previous day and “with the arrival of gas, cargo management has come to an end.” He recalled that just two weeks ago, the country had faced major load outages, with outages lasting up to five hours on April 13 and 14.
Giving a timeline of the situation, Leghari said no load management was done on April 17, 18 and 19, while from April 19 to 29, load shedding had already been reduced to between two and two and a half hours.
He noted that the Power Division had earlier clarified in a press conference, about 15 days ago, that the outages were not due to any system failure or lack of generation capacity.
He said load shedding had previously been eliminated during former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s tenure, but the country was forced to face outages again after six years.
According to the minister, the recent shortage was due to a gas supply disruption related to the conflict between Iran and the United States, which prevented LNG shipments from arriving on time.
Leghari explained that generating electricity through diesel or furnace oil to completely eliminate load shedding would have significantly increased costs, placing additional burden on consumers.
“If we had relied solely on expensive fuel-based generation, electricity would have been unaffordable,” he said.
He added that water releases from dams are determined by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) based on provincial requirements, but noted that hydropower generation has now improved substantially.
“Hydel generation has reached about 6,000 megawatts, while before it had fallen to 1,000 megawatts,” he said.
The minister expressed hope that the transmission lines would remain free of faults and interruptions, and emphasized that the stability of the system was essential to maintain uninterrupted supply.
He acknowledged that the government had to purchase expensive LNG on the open market due to the unavailability of Qatari gas during the crisis.
Leghari clarified that the country’s actual power generation capacity was around 32,000 megawatts, not 46,000 megawatts as widely perceived.
He added that generation capacity fluctuates at different times of the year depending on multiple factors.
“By the grace of Allah, we have managed to eliminate load shedding,” he said, adding that furnace oil plants and other fuel-based plants had also been commissioned to stabilize supply.
He said the government would continue its efforts to protect consumers from high electricity costs.
