NEPRA blames network failure for outages

The increase in loadshedding even during Sehr and Iftar has not gone unnoticed as the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has taken up the matter against the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), blaming it for not addressing systemic bottlenecks despite large investments authorised by the regulator.
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To ensure that nobody faced electricity outages, the previous government announced two shifts of uninterrupted power supply. The first, a three-hour period during Sehr time, and the second, a four-hour shift starting at Iftar and ending after Taraveeh. The policy, according to the government, would be extended to even those areas that had more than 80pc in losses. All industrial consumers were asked to adjust their labour shifts accordingly.

The plan worked well for the first few days and the power division declared that it had even restored full supply to one category of industrial consumers as there was sufficient power generation.

However, some major cities began to witness extended periods of loadshedding, besides unscheduled power cuts that continued regardless. The authorities said that constraints in the system had appeared as power generation from the south of the country had been moved to the north as hydropower generation had dropped due to water shortage.
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The power regulator on Friday said it was worried over the increase in loadshedding in the country and found that the overloaded grid stations of the NTDC werethe underlying cause of the breakdowns.
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The regulator had previously taken notice of the failures of the NTDC and had directed the system operator on Nov 20, 2017 to resolve the issue of overloaded grid stations.

However, the issues with the NTDC`s network remain unsettled. Problems may be further aggravated over the next few months given the increased demand over July and August if immediate measures are not taken, the regulator said. It directed the NTDC to prepare and implement a plan for eliminating overloading and network problems.
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PM orders cut in power sector losses

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According to the ministry, the country`s power generation capacity increased substantially but the power system was not improved proportionately that required a massive investment for upgrade. It also reported that the transmission and distribution system was still fragile and susceptible to minor variations in frequency and unusual events.
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As such, the more electricity is produced, transmitted and consumed, the bigger becomes the size of circular debt. At 15,000MW power generation, the circular debt was building at the rate of about Rs120 billion, while it is now set to grow to Rs360bn as generation gets closer to 21,000MW.
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It was reported that compared to 18,753MW in 2013, the current available generation capacity currently stood at 28,704MW. However, due to weather conditions and the resultant reduced water supply, hydel generation in May this year remained at 3,090MW, compared to 6,333Mw in 2015.
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