Pakistanis suffering from load shedding despite having more electricity

The CPEC drive power production projects have led to a drastic rise in the electricity being produced in Pakistan, much more than Pakistanis need. But, since the cost of producing more power is shifted to the consumers, they have to pay more for the electricity they don’t need and at most times don’t have either.

Having gone through at least half a century without adequate power supply, Pakistan is increasingly finding itself confronting a unique problem most couldn’t have predicted – more electricity than is needed.

As per a local news outlet, the mass scale construction of power plants, particularly the coal-fired ones built with China’s cooperation under the CPEC, has resulted in a rapid rise in the country’s energy capacity.

According to the media report, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Power, Tabish Gauhar, admitted, “It’s true. We are producing much more than .” need”. The phenomenon can be attributed to the increase in coal-powered plants working throughout the country, including Karachi, Sahiwal, Hub, DG Khan, and Gwadar, 7 as 2021.

Once the projects undergoing development are completed in the upcoming years, Pakistan’s capacity will increase to 38,000 MW but the current peak summertime demand is 25,000 MW only, resulting in an excess supply of 13,000 MW, according to Mr. Gauhar. He further added that, consumer rates will drive up to 30% due to the tariff costs Pakistan incurs for producing the power in cooperation with the Chinese companies, unless consumption of electricity in Pakistan increases accordingly.

However, tragically, even as the supply increases, major cities, including Karachi, remain afflicted with power blackouts. Last month, a major power outage led to a nationwide blackout in the major cities.

Source: DAWN