March 12, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1429

KARACHI, March 11: Several areas experienced prolonged power failures and breakdowns despite the fact that the city’s power demand remained relatively less with a change in weather on Tuesday.

Failing to generate enough electricity to meet the city’s power demand, the Karachi Electric Supply Company resorted to load-shedding for eight hours in four phases in residential areas and for four hours in industrial areas. There was no respite from the continuing load-shedding as the power utility faced a shortfall of about 600MW though the city’s weather was pleasant and power supply demand was relatively less.

In summer when the power demand is likely to cross the limit of 2,600MW power riots are being feared by the concerned quarters who blame the previous government for privatising the KESC without assessing the socio-economic and political fallout of the outages.

A source in the KESC’s load dispatch centre told Dawn that the utility faced around 431MW shortage of electricity when the demand was around 1,900MW. He said the KESC had no option but to carry out several spells of power load-shedding of prolonged duration in various parts of the city on a rotational basis. The spells of load-shedding continued till late in the night owing to an ever-widening gap in supply and demand of electricity.

Since the massive power breakdown that hit the metropolis on March 6 as the Water and Power Development Authority disconnected power supply to the KESC through the national grid, the privatised utility has been miserably failing to meet the city’s growing power demand.

The KESC, which has been facing power shortage, is resorting to carrying out multiple spells of load-shedding with each spell spanning over two hours. The load-shedding and power breakdowns have been equally affecting residential and market areas of the city.

Residents of various affected localities have been facing serious difficulties due to recurring power outages of prolonged duration. The office-goers complain that they face power load-shedding while leaving for the day’s work while on getting back home they again have to undergo multiple spells of power load-shedding till late in the night.

The continuous load-shedding has also hit the hydrants and other installations of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, which has affected water supply to several residential areas.

Residents say that they cannot run power generators as alternative power supply source for longer durations due to phenomenal increase in fuel costs.

A recent survey of the market areas and business centres in Saddar and adjoining areas indicates that businessmen, shopkeepers, and traders were seriously annoyed at the frequent power cuts.

Atiq Mir, the chairman of the Alliance of Market Associations, finds no point in agitating against the KESC. “The KESC is virtually dead now so there is no purpose of agitating against the power utility,” he says.

Traders, businessmen and retailers in the city have pinned their hopes to the elected government which ought to take steps on war-footings to overcome the simmering electricity crisis and mediate to resolve the payment issues between Wapda and KESC.