The excessive loadshedding of electricity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas has forced the power consumers to install solar panels to run electric gadgets in their houses.

The power consumers say that there is no schedule for power loadshedding, mainly in the rural areas where electricity remains suspended for 18 to 20 hours daily.

The complaints about low voltage are also very common in the province and consumers say that the necessary appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators were useless for them in the prevailing situation.

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The power loadshedding also forced the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government to stage a protest against Wapda authorities.

The protest rally in front of Pesco office was led by chief minister Pervez Khattak and participated by MNAs, PMAs and a large number of workers of PTI.

Majority of the people in our village have installed solar panels as there is no electricity, says a resident of Sheikhan

In his brief address, Mr Khattak set a one-week deadline to the authorities concerned for improvement of the power supply system. He threatened to withdraw security from Wapda installations and bring the people on roads against the power company across the province. “If Punjab can suspend supply of wheat then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can also stop supply of electricity to Punjab,” he said.

The solar system for generating electricity was introduced about one year ago in Peshawar. The Cantonment Board Peshawar (CBP) has also installed solar street lights on The Mall but the provincial government is yet to introduce it as a public utility. However, solar system is becoming popular among the people of the province, especially in the rural areas where the power supply is next to nil.

The second big problem usually faced by the people is damaged and out of order power transformers as Pesco avoids repairing these and the consumers themselves have to pay the repair charges.Besides main markets in Peshawar, now solar panels are easily available in suburban areas like Sarband, Batathal, Zangli, Mattani and Badhber. “Majority of the people in our village have installed the solar panels as there is no electricity in our area,” Nisar, a resident of Sheikhan village told this correspondent. He said that it was the cheapest source of energy as it could easily be installed on rooftop or any other place inside the house to run fans, room coolers and other appliances.

“We charge the batteries at daytime to run the fans and room cooler for the whole night uninterruptedly,” he said. He said that small families should use solar system instead of the electricity provided by Pesco to avoid inflated power bills and prolonged loadshedding.

Shehzad, a trader at Sarband Bazaar, said that there were many varieties of different power generating capacities of the solar panels, which had different prices. The normal price of a panel was Rs9,600, which required a battery of Rs7,500 and it could run three fans costing Rs9,300. “It means that a complete set (solar panel, battery and three fans) costs Rs30,000,” he added. The trader said that one could use several savers (bulbs) in addition to the fans. Similarly, he said, it could also run a small room cooler, which cost Rs4,500.

Mr Shehzad said that the Chinese made solar panels were very popular owing to their cheap price. However, the products of Canada, the USA and Germany were also in the market but they were costly, he added.

The trader said that Chinese panels had no warrantee while those of other countries had 20 years warrantee. “Surely there is difference in quality also,” he said and added that poor people preferred to purchase the Chinese ones.

Shahid Khan, another trader, however, said that a reasonable set cost from Rs35,000 to Rs42,000. He said there were costly panels, which could be used for running tubewells and other heavy appliances like refrigerators, air-conditioners and water pumps.

“The price is according to the size of the panel and make of the product while the cheapest one is that of Chinese origin which has flooded the market,” Mr Khan said. He added that government should encourage people by exempting the imported solar panels from all kinds of taxes so that maxim of the citizens could start using it to reduce burden on the existing faulty power supply system in the country.

Noor Wali Afridi, another businessman, said that he had sold out thousands of solar panels during the current year as people had no other option to protect themselves from the sizzling heat, particularly in the cemented homes.

He said that people were using solar panels in winter too. Maximum of the clients belonged to rural areas, particularly the people residing in the villages near the border of Khyber Agency and Darra Adamkhel, he said.

Mr Afridi said that he himself was residing in a village in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency where people were facing acute water shortage because supply of electricity was next to nil.

He said that lawlessness, prolonged curfew and restriction on movement had made life of people miserable. They could not demand smooth power supply but the best way for them was to install the solar system to get some sort of relief, he added.

Maasal Khan, a mechanic of power generators at Swati Phattak, said that power generators were alternative to the hydel power but with arrival of solar panels people were avoiding buying the generators. The main reason of avoiding generators, he said, was poverty. The people residing in rural areas had to run the generators on petrol or diesel because of non-availability of natural gas, he added.

Mr Maasal said that solar system had replaced power generators to great extent. However, people were still using generators in those areas where natural gas was available, he added.

Mohammad Ameen, an electrical engineer at Shaheen Colony, said that people had stopped installing uninterrupted power supply (UPS) after the arrival of solar panels in the market. The solar panels could easily charge the batteries without consuming electricity, he added. However, he said that solar fans were of low quality and needed proper care.

Jahangir, who deals in sale and repair of batteries at Shuba Bazaar, said that customers were avoiding purchasing the new batteries owing to high rates. They usually bought repaired batteries at about half price of the new ones, he said.

“If a new battery is available at Rs15,000, a repaired one can be bought at its half price. The repaired batteries can work for the same period like the new ones if maintained properly,” he claimed.

Mr Jehangir said that low income group should avoid purchasing new batteries to save money. He said that rates of UPS and batteries were increased manifold during the past few years owing to excessive loadshedding. He added that the dealers were dodging the customers by selling to them local products on exorbitant rates in the name of imported ones.

Published in Dawn, Aug 3rd, 2014