KARACHI: After announcing that they would be carrying out loadshedding in localities marked out as low-loss areas after a shortfall of around 70MW to 80MW of electricity, K-Electric on Tuesday reverted to their system of load-shed in high-loss and medium-loss areas.

A spokesman for the power utility said that they had decided not to go ahead with their new load-shed plan after the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (Kanupp) came back on line on Tuesday morning.

Kanupp has been providing 70MW to 80MW to KE but it tripped on Monday after which KE had announced its plan to carry out up to three hours of loadshedding in low-loss areas such as SITE, Saddar, Clifton, Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Tipu Sultan Road, Korangi Industrial Model Zone and Bin Qasim besides Hub and Uthal. These places have been marked by KE as low-loss areas as there have been hardly any cases of power theft there while the residents of these areas regularly pay their bills.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) had expressed his surprise at the power utility’s taking such a drastic step while citing them as a reason for the shortfall. “But we only supply them 80MW of power. How can it cause such a major shortfall as compared to the 2,100MW they run the city with?”

KE’s spokesman said that they were getting around 50MW to 60MW from Kanupp on Tuesday. “It is enough to make us take back our decision of loadshedding in low-loss areas,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play