December 07, 2008	Sunday	Zilhaj 8, 1429

KARACHI, Dec 6: A strong surge on Wapda’s national grid on Saturday knocked out KESC’s generation, transmission and distribution system for several hours, leaving most of the city without electricity.

Wapda’s supply voltage surged to 280, from a normal level of 220, at about 6.30am. The surge had a cascading effect on the KESC system, causing most of it to trip. Surprisingly, Kanupp, which is often affected by problems such as this surge, remained operational.

KESC officials claim that the shortage at the time was only 300MW, but sources put that figure closer to 550MW. As a result of the tripping, four units of the Bin Qasim power plant were rendered inactive, while the other two were generating only 160MW. The four nonfunctioning units were brought back online at about 2pm. KESC sources claimed that the entire system was functioning normally by the evening, with the utility only resorting to one hour of load-shedding.

Due to the surge, supplies from the Dhabeji and North Karachi pumping stations of the Water Board were also affected.

Despite the magnitude of the breakdown, no official announcement, or even response to press queries, was made by the utility company. Officials were least pushed to resolve either this crisis or even to respond to consumer complaints of “excessive” billing and loadshedding/faults.

Fluctuations and outages continued across the city, as the KESC shut down several feeders at the onset of rain on Friday night. There are also apprehensions amongst consumers that the utility will further increase tariffs on the pretext of IMF compliance.

The KESC senior management, which managed to have import duties on generating plants and cables waived, was in Islamabad on Saturday to solicit government support for the monthly revision of fuel adjustments.

Senior officials within KESC, however, have ruled out any increase in power tariffs in the near future on the pretext of fuel adjustment charges. They also ruled out any change in tariffs due to the dropping price of fuel in the international market.Basharat Cheema of Pepco, responding to a question about the consequences of Nepra’s determination in various petitions on electricity consumers, particularly in Karachi, said that under present circumstances, any further increase is not expected. Citing statements by Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, he added that the government may not accept Nepra’s determination of monthly review.

Mr Cheema also pointed out that the current fuel adjustment charge review was planned by Nepra a year ago.

KESC consumers, meanwhile, remain perturbed over the utility’s failure to make categorical statements on a number of issues. In particular, these include why the 40 per cent government authorised tariff drop was counted as arrears, and the reported Nepra recommendation to review fuel adjustment charges on a monthly basis. Consumers feel the KESC management is attempting to extract the maximum benefit from consumers and the government by allowing this confusion to persist.

Mr Cheema pointed out that on August 23, Nepra had recommended a 51 per cent increase in tariff, but the government only approved a 31 per cent hike. That figure was further slashed after strong public protests.

With Pakistan now accepting an IMF programme, it will also have to comply with the IMF’s condition that power subsidies be withdrawn. A subsidy of Rs65 million was budgeted for, while a further Rs40 million was added when tariffs were reduced.