March 13, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

KARACHI, March 12: As prolonged power outages continued in Karachi on Wednesday, the fear of possible power riots loomed over the city as the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) and the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) failed to resolve their dispute over outstanding dues.

As the mercury level surged in the metropolis, warning bells sounded when the CEO of the KESC told Dawn that there was no Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between the KESC and Pepco.

He said this when asked to reveal the details of the PPA with Pepco and at what rate it was being billed.

“There is no PPA between the KESC and Pepco and the price is determined by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra),” said retired General Mohammad Amjad. He added that the quantum of power supply from Pepco to the KESC was dependent upon the will of the former.

The KESC CEO did not respond to a query about the current billing of Pepco, but he told a private TV channel that the KESC was being charged at approximately Rs7 per unit. But insiders said the tariff was around Rs9 per unit and hence the dispute.

Before privatization, the KESC was being charged by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) at Rs3.69, which in 2005 was increased to Rs5.25.

Experts said that if the current disputed rate is notified, then every consumer in Karachi would become a defaulter in the hundreds of thousands of rupees for failure of the KESC to increase its own generation. They said that Nepra’s unilateral decision to increase the tariff, which is heavily tilted towards Wapda and is unrealistic, was the cause of the city’s power crisis.

Meanwhile, citizens had to brave another day of prolonged and recurring power failures on account of load-shedding.

As the peak demand of electricity once again surged to 2,000 megawatts, the KESC – with all its indigenous and external electric power supply sources – was found lacking in overcoming the power needs of the city.

The residential, commercial, and industrial areas of the city have been equally affected by prolonged spells of load-shedding throughout the day and night.

A KESC source confirmed that several residential areas of the city have been coming under a maximum of four spells of load-shedding during 24 hours and during each shutdown, the power supply is disconnected for over two hours.

The source said that residential and business areas of the city had been divided into four zones to carry out load-shedding on a rotational basis throughout the day, while the industrial estates of Karachi had been demarcated into two zones to shut down electric supply to their industrial units between 7pm to 11pm on a daily basis.