Amid heightened scrutiny and ambiguity surrounding the independent power producers (IPPs) the federal government has claimed that no loadshedding is being carried out in the country due to generation shortfall.
Speaking on the National Assembly floor on Wednesday, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said that distribution companies (Discos) are carrying out load management in areas based on losses in corresponding feeders.
The minister’s remarks come as the incumbent government faced much scrutiny owing to exorbitant electricity bills and hours-long power outages across the country – especially during this year’s summer.
Ever since coming to power in February earlier this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration has faced challenges on multiple fronts with power sector being one of them. The Centre faced country-wide protests over prolonged loadshedding and sky-high bills throughout the summer.
The incumbent rulers have also faced flak on the IPP issue with calls to review the government agreements with them as the government has admitted that the country has the highest electricity tariffs in the region.
However, Energy Minister Awais Leghari has said that the nation would receive “good news” regarding the IPPs soon. Speaking in the lower house of parliament today, Tarar also underscored that feeders with up to 20% losses are exempted from loadshedding.
The minister also said that in the first phase, smart meters will be installed on transformers to keep a check on electricity theft. Informing the House that Private Power and Infrastructure Board was working on promotion and development of Alternative and Renewable Energy technologies for power generation in line with the government’s vision to diversify the energy generation, the lawmaker accentuated that as many as 58 alternative and renewable energy based projects were operational which were producing 3,837 megawatts of electricity cumulatively
Out of these, winds projects amounted to 1,845 megawatts, he added.
Meanwhile, expressing his view on the parliament floor, Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik lamented the depletion of indigenous gas reserves and said that the incumbent administration was awarding new blocks for oil and gas exploration along with the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).