Consumers relieved by reduction in load shedding hours

[LahoreEstate]

Consumers relieved by reduction in load shedding hours

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) has reduced load shedding hours for domestic consumers, while industrial areas across the country are still being subjected to six to eight-hour power outages.

PEPCO sources told Daily Times on Sunday that the load shedding had not ended completely, but the company had cut down its duration for domestic consumers by three to four hours.

“The company has not reduced load shedding hours for the rural and industrial areas and they are still facing 8-10-hour load shedding,” the sources said.

The reason for not reducing outages in the rural and industrial areas was to facilitate the domestic consumers, as they had suffered a lot in the past six months, the PEPCO sources said.

PEPCO’s earlier power shortfall of 3,000 megawatts (MW) has been cut down to around 1,000 to 1,500MW, as around 1,250MW had been added to the system through hydel power generation, the sources said.

They said the collective hydel power generation from Mangla and Tarbela dams on Saturday night was recorded at around 2,500MW.

They said the current power demand was 11,700MW and around 10,500MW were being produced.

PEPCO Energy Management and Conservation Director General Tahir Basharat Cheema said the load shedding “has not ended yet and it will take some more time to eliminate the power crisis from the country as more and more power projects are being added to the existing system”. He said power outages would end by December 2009.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg7_20