LAHORE, Jan 2: Electricity deficit in the country hit a staggering 3,600MW on Wednesday, necessitating an eight-hour nationwide loadshedding.

According to the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PepCo), the demand stood at around 10,000MW and a deficit of 3,600MW, or 36 per cent.

According to PepCo officials, hydel-power generation hit an all-time low at 1,300MW against a peak summer generation of 6,600MW. Similarly, thermal generation went down by 800MW due to a squeeze on oil supplies and it generated 2,100MW against a summer supply of 2,900MW.

The authority faced another shortage of 600MW because power lines from HubCo were blown up on Tuesday. The PepCo supplied power to Karachi through alternative routes and reduced the supply of 300MW to the national grid in the morning.

Stoppage of gas supplies to different generating units worsened the deficit by another 500MW.

“The load situation further worsens when taken against the backdrop of a constant load of around 1,500MW, which the company cannot shut off,” said an official of Power Wing of the Water and Power Development Authority.

For example, the company cannot shut power to hospitals, military installations and railway stations. This additional load is transferred to the general public. The same situation happened on Wednesday, taking the loadshedding beyond eight hours in most areas of the country, he said.

Adding to PepCo worries was the performance of the Independent Power Producers (IPPs), said another official. All these IPPs are fair-weather friends. They were supposed to meet peak hours (6pm to 10pm) requirements but maintaining a constant supply in such a crisis situation had proved to be beyond them. Their contribution, he said, had never gone beyond 5,000MW against the installed capacity of 5,500MW.

A HubCo unit had been out of order for three months, which created a constant deficit of 300MW.