November 26, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 15, 1428

A FRAGILE distribution network, poor customer support services and growing financial losses are hindering the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) from becoming a consumer-friendly public entity, according to consumers and officials.

Consumers of Pesco, which covers whole of NWFP and partly Azad Jammu and Kashmir through its 3,200-km-long transmission line, complain that load-shedding have become a routine matter. Power disruptions owing to technical faults and fragile network have now become a permanent nuisance for the domestic and industrial consumers, they complain.

Tripping of transformers at grid stations and snapping of high voltage wires are rampant causing frequent power breakdowns, they say.

Rural consumers complain that transformers developing faults take weeks together for its repair and Pesco does not have any alternative arrangements to meet its consumers’ need.

“This not only makes lives of the consumers miserable, but also deprives the utility of huge revenue, which it could have earned through uninterrupted power supply,” says a domestic consumer. In peak season, replacement of an out of order transformer becomes next to impossible and often consumers have to pool money for its repair which costs Rs25, 000 to Rs30, 000, the consumer laments.

The consumers also complain of over-billing by Pesco, which is supplying power to more than 2.1 million consumers through its 10 circles and 86 grid stations across the province. They complain that their electricity bills carry incorrect meter readings, and their correction is an uphill task.

They regret that their grievances regarding bill correction often remains unattended. The bills carry the arrears already reconciled in the previous months as the adjustment is not made well on time. Arbab Muhammad Amir, Nazim of Town Council-IV, says consumers of his area are confronted with poor costumer-services. Many consumers of his Town Council, mainly comprising rural areas, are facing instances of over-billing and are running from pillar to post to get their bills corrected, but to no avail. The industrial consumers have more grievances about the prevailing state of affairs of the public utility than the domestic users.

Zahid Khan Shinwari, former vice-president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), explains that the industrialists have multiple problems with Pesco varying from hardships in obtaining an industrial connection to excessive billing and unannounced load-shedding to unabated disruptions.

He says: “The Pesco claims of providing commercial connection within 48 hours, but in fact a consumer has to wait for at least two to three months for a connection. He reminds that in the past the public utility used to announce schedule of power shutdown, whenever required for necessary operation and maintenance. But now frequent shutdowns are common without any prior notification, thus affecting the over all production of the units in industrial estates of Peshawar, which are already in severe financial crises. Some of the machineries need 24 hours to restart, once they are shut down,” he explains.

In this situation, when the power supply is not regular, the industries will have no option, but to close down one by one and move to Punjab, Mr Shinwari observes.

Managers at the National Logistic Cell (NLC) Jamrud Terminal have a similar complaint, where the Pesco has not provided power connection to the project despite passage of almost nine months.

Officials at the NWFP Industries Department say that the provincial government is working on expansion of existing industrial estates besides opening two new industrial areas in the province. But the major problem is non-availability of required power infrastructure, as Pesco lacks capacity to feed more industrial units, thus making the government efforts for industrial expansion ineffective. Some of the managers at Pesco consider fragile distribution network and financial losses as the reasons for its inefficiency. They say expansion and up-gradation of the network are closely linked with the financial position of an organisation, which in case of Pesco has never been sound.

Because of financial crunch, Pesco could not be privatised despite the fact it was on the privatisation list since 2004, they said and added that at present when the yearly financial losses of the company has swelled to more than Rs11 billion, nobody will be ready to invest in this organisation. The monthly billing of Pesco is around Rs100.97 million, whereas its recovery is not more than 83 per cent because of excessive line losses. The line losses in distribution are permissible from 9 to 12 per cent keeping in view the climate of the areas falling within Pesco’s jurisdiction. However, currently line losses of the company are more than 32 per cent mainly because of power theft, which is more than the technical line losses.

An official at Pesco informs that the company has 72 per cent of its consumers from the domestic sector, where the power theft is comparatively higher than commercial users.

Citing the example of Bannu circle, the official explains that at present the ratio of overall Pesco line losses are 32 per cent, whereas the same ratio for this circle is 50 per cent. This means, the company is only paid for half of the total electricity consumed in the area.

Reduction in line losses, in his views, is the key to improve the existing distribution network of the utility because it will put the company in a position, where it will have a fiscal space for system up-gradation.

The official holds the provincial government and the consumers equally responsible for the existing financial stress of the company.

He explains: “The vigilance teams of Pesco have referred 5,400 cases of power theft to police for registering FIRs during last four years, out of which hardly 300 could be registered. However, even of the total registered cases, action had been taken only against seven cases. It demonstrates the level of support being offered from the district administrations to the company. In this scenario, those involved in power theft are encouraged and the company’s financial losses are swelling day by day.” The official says that consumers also do not disclose their actual consumption, which makes difficult for the company to ascertain the exact requirement of an area. This ultimately results in power shortage and causes power disruption.

Another official, however, concedes that present level of power transmitted to Pesco, which stands at 2,300MW, doesn’t cater to the existing consumers’ need in peak season. He says that meanwhile electrification of more villages is in progress which, he is sure, will make things worse in days to come. In last one year around 3,000 villages were given connection, whereas electrification of remaining 500 will be completed by the end of current year that would put further load on the system. Furthermore, the company has to up-grade its 3,200-kilometer-long transmission line, which mostly passes through hilly areas of the province besides improving its customer support services for transforming itself as real consumer-friendly public utility, he remarks.