Pakistan continued to face an electricity shortfall during peak hours on April 23, despite an increase in hydropower generation, according to the Power Division. The situation reflects ongoing challenges in balancing rising electricity demand with available generation capacity across the country.
Officials reported that electricity demand surged nationwide, while hydropower generation improved to 5,800 megawatts during peak hours. This increase was mainly due to higher water releases from Tarbela Dam, one of the country’s largest sources of hydroelectric power.
Despite this improvement, the country’s total hydropower capacity stands at 11,500 megawatts, showing that actual production is still significantly below its full potential. Experts believe that better water management and infrastructure upgrades could further enhance output in the future.
The increase in hydropower also helped stabilize the national grid to some extent. Authorities were able to transmit an additional 500 megawatts of electricity from the southern region to the central system, which was about 100 megawatts higher compared to the previous night.
However, the relief was not enough to fully meet demand, and power distribution companies implemented load management of up to two hours during peak nighttime periods. Officials clarified that this was separate from ongoing economic load management on high-loss feeders.
The Power Division further revealed that around 5,500 megawatts of generation capacity remains unused due to shortages of liquefied natural gas amid global supply constraints. Authorities expressed hope that improved LNG availability and increased water releases could help eliminate the shortfall in the coming days.
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