KOHAT, Dec 28: The Wapda is carrying out over 15-hour loadshedding daily in Kohat division against the three and five hours schedule announced by the federal government for urban and rural areas, respectively.

The local officials of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that they could not follow any schedule for load management for consumers because power supply was also being cut from the regional control center in Islamabad and Sheikh Muhammadi grid in Peshawar without any intimation.

They said that unusually longer intervals of power outages were also being caused due to problem in the tripping system at Sheikh Muhammadi grid while some of the turbines at Tarbela were also closed.

The major power breakdowns lasting from dawn till afternoon and during the night which hit Kohat division on last Friday and Saturday were caused by technical fault in Peshawar, the officials said.

They clarified that Kohat grid stations were responsible for due hours of loadshedding and for most of the times the national grid cut the power to manage load in the country.

About other reasons for power outages, they said that consumers in some areas had been indulging in excessive use of electricity, which resulted in tripping of the system and sometimes serious damage to transformers and feeders.

Besides, it had been noticed that theft of electricity by consumers with the connivance of Pesco officials had increased due to the unrealistic raise in the power tariff, which was one of the major causes for overloading of the feeders.

The officials said that the thieves who used to reverse their meters with the help of meter readers consumed 200 per cent more electricity because they had no fear of paying for actual consumption of power.

Also, some members of the business community and consumers justify stealing of power, saying that the government was cheating them by selling oil at exorbitant prices and lavishly spending the taxpayers' money.

On average a businessman had to spend up to Rs5,000 a month extra on purchasing petrol and engine oil for keeping the generators running at peak shopping hours in the evenings.

Despite 50 per cent across the board increase in the salaries of Wapda staff the menace of corruption in the department was still flourishing.

The meter readers were collecting bribes for themselves and their officers from dishonest consumers. The extra payment of Rs2,000 was still intact on the installation of a new electricity meter and the applicant had to bear the cost of the service wire.

When contacted, a senior Pesco officer said that all the electric supply companies received the Wapda wire along with meters for new connections. But it was sold by the lower staff on the open market and the applicant had to buy the wire for which he had already made payment at the time of depositing connection charges.

Interestingly 98 per cent people living in the settled and tribal areas in the Kohat division were still without gas facility, which could be used for generating electricity as well.