KESC unable to reduce supply-demand gap

With the closure of two electricity generating units of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), the power supply from Bin Qasim Thermal Power Plant (BQTPP) of the company has been reduced to around 700 megawatts. Though the power demand of the city has also reduced from 2300 to over 1500 MW, the company has not been able to reduce demand and supply gap, as the city is still facing the loadshedding of at least four hours daily.
The two units of 200 MW are, as KESC claimed, switched off for maintenance. But the rest are also being run at minimum capacity for, what the company claims, lower supply of gas. According to sources the total supply from BQTPP has been reduced to over 400 MW out of its capacity of 1150 MW.
According to KESC sources gas supply had unexpectedly dropped as low as 90 MMCFD, as against the budgeted 140 MMCFD, resulting in a relatively small electricity generation during winters. They said that at 2.00 pm on Wednesday, the total demand from the city stood at 1522 MW, while the utility had been supplying 1370 MW due to low gas pressure which had been affecting power production.
Campaign against power theft: Chief Operating Officer, Distribution, Jan Abbas Zaidi, while addressing a media briefing on Wednesday at the company's head office said that the public utility, during its major recovery drive of December, launched the aggressive plan to disconnect power supply to 278 government connections owing to non-payment of bills, while 22 of them have already been disconnected during the first two days of current week.
He said that in total, the government offices have owed KESC over Rs 3 billion. According to details, given by Abbas Zaidi, important among the disconnected government connections include: Tughlaq House Sindh Secretariat; Department of Film; Sindh Agriculture Supplies Organisation, Auqaf, Building Division of PWD Sindh; Swedish Pakistan Institute Landhi; D C Office Quaidabad Landhi; Mukhtarkar office Malir Cantt; Pakistan Telegraph Korangi.
An office of DHA in Phase-VIII and the office of Director College Education in the Sindh Secretariat had also been disconnected. More of the 278 government connections would be disconnected in the coming days due to non-payment, he stated. The four town offices, which had been disconnected, including Faisal, Malir, Gadap and Korangi, also had to be resolved, he said.
Under the anti-theft and recovery drive in private sector, four FIRs had been registered in Region I. The individuals nominated in FIRs included Abdullah, Abdul Mannan, Shakil Noor and Abdul Salam of Maghopir. Moreover, he added that in the same region, a total of 495 cases of electricity theft were detected and 1846 illegal connection removed in Lyari, Kharadar, Usmanabad, Kalri and Moosa Lane areas.
In Region II, the supply to NDFC office Alamgir Road Branch at Main Tariq Road was disconnected finding out illegal supply to the premises. In this region, 3,645 consumers had been disconnected owing to non-payment of bills, while connections of 2133 have been resumed after their partial and full payment.
In Region III, notable among those disconnected included Pizza Expert Bahadurabad Branch where metre had been tempered with; Askari College Bahadurabad which was getting illegal supply; Noor Centre in Azeempura where 17 consumers had been found guilty of stealing electricity; Hunaid City where water pump had been disconnected for non-payment; and, Noman Grand City project in Johar on the basis of dues on its water pump. While negotiation had been underway with these consumers, in total 4129 disconnections had been made in this region of which 1567 had been reconnected.
In Region-IV, 1566 consumers had been disconnected of which 853 had been reconnected on payment. Notable among defaulters included Muhammad Yousuf of a pharmaceutical company whose meter had been found tempered and the premises had been receiving illegal electricity. Also, Khawaja Shamim Ahmed of Toor Baba Road in Sher Shah had been found to temper with the meter of his loom factory.
FIRs had also been registered against M. Mushtaq in Korangi on the basis of stealing electricity, and Amjad Hussain of Bilal Colony was found to have tempered with the meter, he added. He also said that like always, all possible measures will be taken to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity during Muharram, in close co-operation with the city government.