ISLAMABAD: Water and power secretary Yunus Dhaga at a hearing of the National Assembly Water and Power Committee said that the state-owned National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) has sent a letter to the K-Electric asking them to utilise their own power generation capacity after the agreement between K-Electric and NTDC for the latter to supply 650 MW to Karachi had expired on January 26.
“K-Electric can generate 2,000 to 2,500 MW of electricity with its own power generation plants. Despite the expiration of NTDC’s agreement with K-Electric, electricity is being supplied to the company,” said Dhaga, adding that power shutdowns in Karachi could end if K-Electric runs its own power plants at full capacity. He said that the power currently being supplied to Karachi can then be supplied to other parts of the country.
“If K-Electric generates electricity as per full capacity of its power plants, then residents of Karachi and industries of the city will not face power outages as there will be no power load shedding,” said Dhaga, adding that negotiations between the ministry and the company are ongoing.
K-Electric management has, in the past, stated that it is unable to run many of its power plants due to the fact that the state-owned Sui Southern Gas Company does not supply K-Electric’s generating stations with the full amount of gas it needs in order to generate electricity at cheap rates. Instead of supplying the utility which serves the entire city, the government’s policy has been to divert some of the gas needed by K-Electric to the captive power generation units at large industrial units across the city, mostly in textile, though some also in the chemical industries.
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