Theft, Line Losses, Sabotage and Inefficiency Cause Pakistan's Power Blackouts

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The chronic power blackouts that Pakistan has been experiencing are making life even more difficult for a population living in the middle of political tensions and terrorist attacks.

Early last week, power generation dropped to 7,000 megawatts (MW), with demand running at 13,000 MW. The public experienced 18 hours of load shedding in urban areas, and distribution ceased to nearly all rural areas.

"Out of 7,000 MW of generated power, around 700 MW was being given to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), taking national supplies down by another 10% for the common man," said a spokesman for the water and power development authority (WAPDA).

Losses on transmission lines, theft and inefficiency accounted for a further 25% reduction in available power, leaving only 4,500 MW. A further 1,500 MW is reserved by exemptions for hospitals, "VVIPs" (very, very important persons--such a top members of government) and defense, leaving the basic national supply at 3,000 MW for a nation of nearly 180 million people.

Off the record, power planners concede that the on-the-ground reality was much worse than these statistics suggest. The gap between demand and supply is officially at 60%--but, in fact, the ordinary consumer is only getting 20% of required power. Over the weekend of March 31/April 1, the 550-watt Uch power stopped feeding the grid as its gas feed line was sabotaged, and the 125-MW Habibulla Coastal and 25-MW Sheikh Manda were already out of action due to similar sabotage, an official of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) reported.

Another 700 MW went offline when oil fuel supplies broke down for AES Lal Pir and Pak-Gen.Tarbella and Mangla hydropower dams had their water releases reduced from 35,000 cusecs to 25,000 cusecs, and from 22,000 cusecs to 20,000 cusecs, respectively, leading to a loss of 600 MW. In the case of oil fuel feed, total supplies came down to 1,600 tons, with the absolute minimum requirement standing at 25,000 tons.

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