KARACHI: KESC fails to check power pilferage by political parties
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 29: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation has failed to check blatant power pilferage being committed by major political parties for their public meetings.
Well-placed sources told Dawn that the power utility had no option but to look the other way when political parties connected kundas so that their public meetings at night could be arranged.
They explained that ideally the political parties should pay a certain amount of money to the KESC which would make arrangements for a temporary load connection.
Under KESC rules, the power utility provides temporary load connections to consumers who want to use extra power load for the time being. The temporary load connections are more expensive than the normal load connections.
They added that similarly the KESC failed to stop religious parties to observe Shab-i-Baraat by connecting illegal power connections.
“The KESC loses around Rs120 million every day to those who unlawfully arrange the illuminations in the month of celebrations,” they said. They admitted that it would be hard to assess the extent of losses, “but according to some estimates, the KESC loses between 100 megawatts and 300 megawatts.”
The KESC officials said that such widespread power pilferage also caused power breakdowns in other localities.
