Double jeopardy for Karachiites as a power crisis is looming over the port city as the sole power supplier has hinted out at power cuts after the Sui Southern Gas Company halted gas supply.
People of Karachi are alarmed after the KE warning who are already facing gas shortage in the current winter season.
KE’s stance
According to KE spokesperson, the company is currently facing an acute shortage of gas supply and is receiving only 35 mmcfd of gas.
KE spokesperson said: “While the utility continues to provide uninterrupted power supply to the city by generating electricity through alternate fuels under Economic Merit Order (EMO), this chronic gas shortage is hampering the company’s ability to produce cheaper electricity that may adversely impact the consumers.”
The spox further said that if the required amount of gas supply was not restored then temporary load management will be initiated in Karachi as gas pressure problems at various power plants are affecting power generation capacity.
Gas crisis
The duration of gas load-shedding has reached up to 22 hours a day in most of the areas in Karachi.
The officials of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) said that it is facing a shortfall of around 40 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from Bhit and Sawan gas fields due to technical reasons.
The shortfall has resulted in the increase in gas load-shedding in Karachi up to 22 hours a day. According to the SSGC that it is in direct contact with the field operators and gas supply will be restored to Karachi areas at the earliest.
KE heavily relies on National Grid
The load shedding has been the issue of Karachi for a long and despite the claims of the past and the incumbent governments, the problem remains unsolved. Despite charging heavy from its consumers, the KE heavily relies on the National Grid to meet the power needs of the city.
The majority of KE power plants run on gas to produce electricity this is the main reason why, whenever the supply of gas decreases from the SSGC, the KE uses to increase the duration of the load shedding, but unprecedently, this time, the KE hinted at load shedding in the winter season, when the demand of power is already low.
What should be done
K-Electric is essentially a power producer and distributor rolled into one. In order to extract value and make the entity more efficient, it makes sense to split the company into separate power generation and distribution companies. However, the inability of the sovereign to comprehend the potential synergies that can be realized through such a structure continues to hamper the value that can be generated.
The KE should run also run their power plants to produce electricity through various means such as fernance oil and others, rather than heavily relying on the gas for production.
