Pakistan State Oil (PSO) halted the supply of oil to power companies due to the non-payment of bills.

The power shortfall has reached 8,900 hundred megawatts across the country.

According to the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), power generation is only 7,500 megawatts while consumption is more than 17,000 seventeen megawatts.

Independent power producers (IPPs) have shut down their power plants due to the suspension of fuel.
Meanwhile, PSO has suspended the supply of oil to all government and private power companies due to the non-payment of bills on the due date.

Load shedding hours have consequently been extended, resulting in protests across the country.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Sunday called for a National Energy Conference to discuss the power crisis the country is facing currently.

The energy conference has been called to devise a strategy for overcoming load shedding in the country as well as to look for new avenues for energy production.

PSO currently has Rs155 billion in outstanding receivables from its power sector clients, who have been unable to pay the company because the government in turn has been unable to keep pace on the payments it owes the power companies for the electricity subsidies that Islamabad has a habit of promising.

However, PSO’s government shareholders continue to compel the company to keep supplying oil to the independent power producers, despite the fact that the IPPs are well beyond their credit limits.