KARACHI, March 13: Consumers have begun purchasing uninterrupted power supplier (UPS) early this year as the power failures are getting worse day-by-day. In view of the rising demand, the battery makers have enhanced the rates substantially in the last one year, thus making a big impact on the price of UPS. In the last one year the UPS price, excluding battery, has surged by 10 per cent.

Last year, a UPS with battery (for two tube lights and two fans) was available at Rs9,500, including installation charges. Now its rate is Rs12,000, including Rs500-1,000 installation charges depending on the area. The price of battery ranges between Rs5,500-6,000 as compared to Rs3,500-4,000 last year.

The UPS covering (three tube lights and three fans) is now priced at Rs14,000 -14,500, including battery as compared to Rs10,500 (including installation charges) last year. The UPS with batteries to run four tube lights and four fans is priced at Rs15,000 depending on the battery price as compared to Rs12,500 last year.

A battery used for running four tube lights and four fans now costs Rs8,500-8,900 as compared to Rs6,000 last year.

Because of the noiseless power generation, UPS has become a popular gadget in both houses and offices in the last two to three years but the way the prices of batteries have been making a big impact on the total UPS price, many consumers think before purchasing a UPS.

They have another option to purchase a two KVA Chinese petrol generator at Rs10,000-12,000 of average quality and Rs15,000-25,000 of high quality.

A UPS dealer at Regal Chowk in Saddar said that many consumers had started purchasing the UPS from March 1, due to heavy load-shedding. Last year, the buying season had commenced from April.

He was of the view that the battery prices had increased sharply in the last one year keeping in view the actual retail prices. But many battery retailers offer batteries at wholesale rates.

Three years back, Karachi used to get UPS from the Lahore-based cottage industries. Currently, all the supplies to the markets are being made from the local manufacturers.

He said that the UPS prices had surged by 10 per cent in the last one year but the consumers have been paying more because of substantial increase in battery prices.

Innovative battery makers, who can be counted on fingers, virtually enjoy a monopoly like car manufacturers. They have jumped to a new sound business option in the last three years since rise in the UPS demand. After suffering from a slowdown in car production and sales for the one year, they are now fully cashing the situation with the surging UPS demand making frequent increase in prices.

A battery dealer in F.B. Area warned of more price hike in coming months from the manufacturers when the people will throng markets to buy UPS from April to July. He said a battery for 800cc car, which was priced at Rs1,400 in June 2006, now carries a retail price of Rs2,650.

Three years back, battery makers used to offer guarantee of one year. Now they offer only six months guarantee. He said that battery prices had risen due to increase in prices of some imported items, which are used in battery manufacturing.

Abdul Rafay of Al Rehman Electronics said that the UPS price had risen because of increase in prices of iron sheet, copper winding, core (made of iron sheet), besides price increase in imported parts used in UPS like integrated circuits, transformer, and relay etc.

He said that there was also some increase in wages in the last one year of the workers of the cottage industries.

In absence of any official data about the exact number of local manufacturers, Rafay gave a wild estimate that currently around 150 companies are making UPS in Karachi as compared to around 100 last year. He added that the UPS is also being manufactured in the interior Sindh.

He said that the price of copper has surged to Rs530 per kg from Rs400 while the price of core (made of iron sheet) has increased to Rs100 per kg from Rs70 in the last six months. Because of high copper winding rates, many UPS makers are using silver winding.

Some dealers are offering six months guarantee for UPS transformers while others are not ready to offer anything. There is no guarantee of any parts.

The only negative point in the UPS is the high cost of battery depending on ampere power. Buyers have to arrange a new battery after one year so that UPS could work for three to four hours efficiently.