Nargis warns Lesco against outages

LAHORE: Water and Power Secretary Nargis Sethi on Saturday visited various grid stations and complaint centres of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco). At the grid stations, she checked power distribution and load management mechanism as per allocated quota of megawatts. Officials accompanying the secretary told Dawn she met consumers at complaint centres and sought their input for improving the system. "You must focus on loadshedding as per schedule and not divert electricity of any area to another in violation of government policy. Those found violating will be punished," a senior Lesco official quoted the secretary as warning officials in a meeting after her visit. The official said the secretary also issued similar instructions to CEOs of all distribution companies of the country through a video conference from Lesco headquarters. NTDC: The National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) claimed on Saturday to be implementing a six- to eight-hour loadshedding schedule through distribution companies across the country keeping in view a shortfall of 3,300MW. According to an NTDC report, total power demand and generation on Saturday (at 11am) was 17,000MW and 13,700MW, respectively. "Total generation included 4,900MW, 1,950MW and 6,850MW received to the national grid through hydel, thermal and independent power producers (IPPs), respectively," the report said. Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2014