KARACHI, Dec 19: The mild winter drizzle which began on Thursday - and which turned into an intermittent rain on Friday - has knocked out over 200 feeders of the KESC, leaving a quite a few localities of the metropolis without electricity for several hours. Citizens are also reporting many incidents of wire-snapping, which are yet to be repaired. The utility, meanwhile, continued to carry out load shedding, despite the prolonged feeder breakdowns.

The collapse of the KESC system occurred despite the Met department’s forecast of this current wet spell, indicating a lack of resolve to take precautionary measures on the part of the utility’s management. Tripping of feeders was reported from the KESC’s east, west and north zones. The highest number of feeders tripped in the west zone, with many tripping several times, according to sources.

Consumers, meanwhile, should not expect their ordeal to end, as the Met department has predicted more rain (and possible thunderstorms) over the next 24-36 hours. Water supplies may also be affected, as pumping stations are reliant on supply of electricity from the KESC.

According to the sources, the utility cannot attend to snapped wires or carry out other repair work because there is a shortage of field crews and vehicles.

Harassed KESC consumers, meanwhile, ran from pillar to post on Friday trying to get power to their homes restored, but only a few fortunate ones were able to get the attention of the utility.

Complaints of prolonged power supply breakdowns were received from Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Federal B Area, Gulberg, North and New Karachi, Surjani, Malir, Landhi, Korangi, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, PECHS, Mohammad Ali Society, Korangi, Defence, Clifton, Saddar, Orangi, Lyari and Kharadar.

Many in these localities were forced to spend yet another sleepless night, as the KESC failed to restore power after the breakdowns. Sources say the breakdowns and outages have been “manipulated” by the management in order to save on fuel costs. They add that the Bin Qasim plant can generate 1,000MW a day, but the KESC is currently limiting it to 350MW a day in order to save on furnace oil costs. The other three generating plants are also operating below capacity.

Further, the KESC is not importing electricity from the two IPPs (Gul Ahmed and Tapal), even though the city needs the power in order to keep both businesses and homes running. Analysts say the KESC’s policies are discouraging foreign investors from investing in the energy sector in Karachi.

A resident of Iqra complex-1 in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block-17 complained that he had been without electricity for more than 15 hours. An 82-year-old retired Wing Commander of the PAF complained that his area in Khayaban-i-Badr, Defence, Phase VI, had been without electricity since 8pm on Thursday evening. He brought the matter to the notice of CEO of the KESC via telephone (Ph no: 9205142), and was assured that the power supply would be restored “shortly”. As of Friday afternoon, power was yet to be restored.

A history of failures

It should be pointed out that this is not the first time that the privatised KESC management has deceived consumers by assuring them their systems will be operational during the rains.

On July 29, when the first monsoon drizzle hit Karachi, the KESC generation, transmission and distribution system collapsed twice in less than 24 hours, leaving almost the entire city without electricity. At the time, no-one from the utility was available for comment, or to deal with consumers. This despite claims of having upgraded the system.

On Dec 5, citizens were once again subjected to power outages and fluctuations, after the utility shut down several feeders at the onset of a winter drizzle.

The utility is facing these issues because its transmission and distribution network is highly overloaded due to the constantly rising demand for electricity in Karachi. At present, all 15,000 KESC transformers are overloaded, while 13 of 19 production units have exceeded their dependable service lives.

Traders, consumers enraged

Domestic consumers, traders and industrialists are enraged about the prolonged outages. They have accused the KESC management of misleading the government and the public. The business community is now threatening not to pay the KESC ‘inflated’ bills unless the utility reduces the bills, as per the SRO issued by the ministry of water and power.

On Friday, members of the All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industries, Karachi Chapter, staged a protest demonstration outside Dakhni Masjid at Pakistan Chowk against the 70 per cent increase in tariffs. They also opposed the issuance of bills with a 40 per cent increase, which is currently disputed. They alleged that the government and the KESC’s top management are in league in fleecing the people. It was decided to hoist black flags in markets and to hold a sit-in against the situation on M.A. Jinnah Road next Friday.

Analysts say almost half of the electricity currently being lost in transmission and distribution by the KESC can be saved, and tariffs can be reduced. Sources say the problem is not one of an electricity shortage, but merely bad management over a prolonged period.

There are currently no indications that the KESC is following the recommendations of an expert committee entrusted with evaluating the utility’s functioning. Nothing has been done to check widespread power theft, to overcome the lack of proper earthing, to eliminate voltage fluctuations or to enhance generation capacity.