HYDERABAD, Oct 21: The outgoing chief executive of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), Guftar Anjum, on Monday warned that people having three-phase lines with five kilowatt of load would have to pay a different tariff for power consumption between 6pm and 10pm in future.

He said for this purpose different type of meters would be installed. He was addressing a press conference at his office. The new Hesco chief executive Kareem Bux Qureshi, Chief Engineer Nazeer Sheikh and other officials were also present.

The outgoing Hesco chief, who has been transferred to Mepco, said that the country was passing through a severe power crisis. “I have not seen a crisis of such magnitude in Wapda’s history,” he said.

The journalists asked the Hesco chief to provide them with a copy of Hesco’s tariff being applied to the domestic consumers. However, despite repeated requests the tariff copy was not provided to the media personnel.

Interestingly, the Hesco chief did not reply as to which tariff was being applied for billing of domestic consumers.

He also did not give satisfactory replies regarding the adjustment of arrears but just made a one-line statement that he had tried to improve things.

Regarding one-window operation’s proposal, he said that had this suggestion been given when he took over he would have done it. The new chief executive didn’t speak to journalists.

He said that load management by the Hesco was on account of this ongoing power crisis. He said that it was also because of the fact that no new power generation unit had been installed. He said that water was being stored for wheat crop because power shortage could be tolerated but non-availability of wheat could not be tolerated. He said that quota of gas had been affected also.

He said that according to the Nepra’s figures against the demand of 14,700 megawatts of electricity, there was a shortfall of 6,300 megawatts of electricity and the Hesco’s share in shortfall was calculated at 10 per cent, which was 600 megawatts.

He said that load-management policy was implemented across the board. He said that a close liaison with industries was being maintained so that any changes in load management policy could be effected with their consultation.

Expressing hope that after Nov 1 situation would change and there would be less load-management, the Hesco chief said that present crisis was like a war and people must cooperate with the authorities.

He said that there would be no electricity supply between 6pm to 12pm even to the textile industries, which had been exempted from load management. Similarly, he said, steel-related industry would also face cut in power supply between 12pm to 12am, which meant that they would have to work for only one shift.

He said that Hesco was committed to avoid un-announced load management and that was the reason that to avoid overlapping of load-shedding schedule coordination was now being ensured between Regional Control Centre (RCC) Jamshoro and Power Despatch Centre (PDC) Qasimabad.

He stated as per new load-management urban centres would have no power supply for nine hours and rural areas for 11 hours.

He agreed with a questioner that obviously the consumption of units for consumers must decrease when load-management was being applied. But he didn’t admit that detection bills had become a perennial problem.