Post by nishaat on Mar 18, 2010 22:43:47 GMT
Prolonged loadshedding wreaks havoc on Karachi
KARACHI, March 17: Many parts of the city remained without electricity for 10 hours on Wednesday when the Karachi Electric Supply Company suffered a blow with the refusal of the Pakistan State Oil to continue the supply of oil to the power utility on loan beyond the Rs800 million credit limit.
On Wednesday, KESC plants were run below par due to a short supply of furnace oil and gas as a row over circular debt remained unresolved.
The shortfall increased to 500 megawatts as the supply from the Water and Power Development Authority was also slashed to meet the rising demand for electricity in other parts of the country.
Industrial areas experienced about six hours of loadshedding, as the utility and the oil suppliers were sticking to their stated positions.
The situation deteriorated when at least 15 grid stations were shut due to tripping of extra high-tension electricity line. A number of areas getting supply from the Karachi nuclear power plant and the independent power producer of Tapal Energy experienced a massive breakdown at around 7am when a major circuit in Baldia tripped. Sources said the worst-hit areas were Baldia, SITE, Haroonabad, Orangi, Walika, North Karachi, Azizabad, Mauripur, Liaquatabad, Hub, Windar, Uthal and Bela.
The sources said that the city started experiencing prolonged blackouts after midnight with the tripping of an extra high-tension line at a time when the KESC unilaterally decided to scale down its generation and increase the duration of loadshedding as long as it did not get its complete quota of furnace oil from the PSO under the gas load management programme (GLMP).
Claiming that it has made payment in advance to the PSO for the purchase of oil, the power utility maintained that it had to increase loadshedding hours for domestic users in the absence of full supply. In a brief message received at 2.55am on Wednesday, the KESC claimed that during the past three months it had procured furnace oil worth Rs2.1 billion under the GLMP. A KESC spokesperson stated that electricity dues up to Rs56 billion were outstanding against various departments.
PSO officials said that the KESC would start receiving oil only if it began to pay its dues. A PSO spokesperson said the loans limit for the KESC could not be overstretched beyond Rs800 million. The official also made it clear that furnace oil would be given on credit on a 30-day basis and not on a 45-day basis.
“The KESC cannot be afforded the furnace oil on discounted rates,” said the PSO official.
Claiming that they had just received a cheque for Rs60 million from the KESC, PSO officials said any further decision would be made only after the amount was credited to the company’s account.
A KESC representative, meanwhile, said that the PSO cancelled an order of 5,000 tonnes of furnace oil that caused the company to increase the loadshedding hours to 10 hours a day across the city.
When a Sui gas company official was contacted to verify power utility’s claim about a reduced gas supply, he said that 160MMCFD (million cubic feet per day) was supplied on Tuesday. The official said the supply was later reduced to 145MMCFD during the night hours with the consent of the KESC. He said that due to some problems at gas fields the supply might remain low.
Markets and industries
Chairman of the Alliance of Market Associations Atiq Mir criticised the KESC management for allegedly manipulating the power crisis for extracting concessions from the government on the circular debt and tariff issues. He said that loadshedding had caused serious losses to businesses in the city, which was the country’s financial hub. He said that KESC actions had proved the government claims of improvement in electricity generation false.
A representative of the SITE association said that six hours of loadshedding in the industrial area had affected the production and export schedule. He criticised the government for providing extraordinary concessions to the Abraj-led management of the KESC.
Fromthe Internet Edition of DAWN Karachi.
