Govt working to improve distribution system for smooth supply of electricity: NA told

Jul 17, 2020: Minister for Power Division Omar Ayub Khan on Friday informed National Assembly that the government was working to improve the distribution system for the smooth supply of electricity throughout the country.

Responding to a question during question hour, he said that it was unfortunate that previous governments did not make any investment for improvement of electricity distribution system.

He said the government was establishing grid stations besides reducing distance among feeders for smooth supply.

He said at present over 23,000 megawatts was being transmitted by power distribution companies. Some 80 per cent feeders had been cleared of power pilferage and efforts were being made to clear remaining 20 per cent feeders, he added.

Responding to another question, he said that the government was providing 290 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against 190 mmcfd quota to K Electric in Karachi to overcome energy shortages in the city.

The minister said K-Electric was a private company and its total power demand stood at 3400 megawatts. The government was ready to provide additional power to K-Electric from the national grid but no investment was made in distribution system of the company during the past 10 years, he continued.

He said that oil had also been provided to K-Electric for the generation of electricity.

The minister said K-Electric and National Transmission and Despatch Company were also being pressed to set up 500 kv grid station and distribution points.

At present, there was no shortfall of electricity as sufficient generation was available to meet demand of electricity in the country, he told.

Hence no loadshedding was being carried out in the country due to generation shortfall, he added.

However, the minister said load management was being carried out by distribution companies (DISCOS) on the basis of aggregate technical and commercial losses recorded on each feeder in compliance of directives of the federal cabinet.

He said for load management monitoring, an automatic metering system had been installed on all grids and feeders of the country.

The hourly schedule of load management was being fed into the system and all feeders were monitored 24/7 by using this system, he added.

The minister said any consumer could check the load management schedule and actual loadshedding status by using RoshanPakistan.pk website or Roshan Pakistan mobile App.

Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum Khial Zaman said there was no shortage of petroleum products in the country.

The prices of petroleum products were enhanced as per the rising trends in the international market, he added.

He said, "We are also working with oil marketing companies to enhance the storage capacity for petroleum products."

APP