KARACHI: Citizens face unannounced electricity breakdowns
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, April 2: Power breakdown continued to persist on Sunday in various localities, as the thermal power unit in Bin Qasim was closed down for maintenance resulting in shortage of 200MW power supply to the metropolis.
People from many areas including North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Liaquatabad, North Karachi, and Korangi Crossing, complained that the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation carried out unannounced loadshedding in their respective areas spanning from two to six hours.
A resident of Korangi Crossing said that power supply was discontinued four times on Sunday in his area for a span of one to two hours each. He complained that power fluctuation was another problem and power utility did not heed to the consumers’ grievances.
An irate consumer from North Nazimabad said that power failures continued to happen with intervals in his area throughout the day and no one was there in the KESC on Sunday to tell the consumers as to why the power supply had been discontinued intermittently.
From Clifton Block-4, a complainant said that power failure in his locality had disturbed the residents of his area. He said that the complaint numbers of the power utility were always found busy. He said that the power complaints were not properly handled and KESC officials were downright rude to consumers.
Another resident said that the power utility had been privatized but its performance had not improved. The system, which had gone outdated, was being used for transmission and distribution of power supply and the new buyers had not announced to bring about a favourable change in the existing KESC’s system.
He alleged that many of the officials in the power utility were corrupt and rude and they could not play any positive role in KESC’s image building rather they would cause damages to its performance. The new management had to establish the consumer-friendly attitude to improve its performance, he added.
However, the spokesman for the power utility said that the Unit-VI in the Bin Qasim power plant was closed after it had developed leakages on Friday. Due to the closure of the unit, the KESC faced shortage of 200MW power against the total demand of the city. The power utility had to carry out group-wise loadshedding in various localities for an hour or so on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, the demand was 2,048MW while the KESC could supply only 1,847MW facing 201MW shortage of power, he added.
The situation was much better on Sunday as the demand was 1,706MW and the KESC did not need to carry out loadshedding. The unit had almost been repaired and it would start working late Sunday night. He expressed hope that the situation on Monday would normalize and the power loadshedding would not be needed.
In some areas, he said, power cables were damaged during digging of ground. KESC workers were at work to rectify the faults and power supply to those areas would be restored soon.
He acknowledged that the power transmission and distribution system was weak and power utility would face power shortage during summer. “We are trying to improve the system but it cannot be done overnight,” he said and asked the consumers to be careful while using electricity at their homes and at work. He also asked the people to try to close air-conditioners during 6pm to 11pm to avoid power loadshedding.
