PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) on Thursday reached an agreement about the revision of the loadshedding schedule to reduce the duration of power suspension across the province.

The development came a day after KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur warned his government would take over power distribution systems in the province if the prolonged power cuts were not controlled by Thursday.

In a video message, he also said if the duration of power suspension was not reduced by five-six hours, then he would go to the Pesco office to issue a new loadshedding schedule.

However, Pesco claimed that it was carrying out loadshedding only in areas with greater power outages, while 500 feeders across the province were exempted from cuts.

CM says FIRs should be registered against Xens over unscheduled suspension of electricity

The government and Pesco reached the agreement on Thursday in a meeting chaired by the chief minister.

The participants included provincial chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur, Pesco chief executive officer Akhtar Hameed Khan, Peshawar commissioner Riaz Mehsud and other relevant officials, according to an official statement.

It added that according to the newly-agreed schedule, in all areas currently witnessing 22 hours of loadshedding a day, the duration of power suspension would be reduced to 18 hours, while that time would come down to 14 hours a day in the areas enduring 18 hours of loadshedding.

“In order to ensure implementation of the new schedule of power loadshedding in the province, the chief minister directed Pesco authorities to devise a mechanism immediately in consultation with the chief secretary,” read the statement.

The chief minister said that the new loadshedding schedule should be shared with all deputy commissioners as well as district police officers across the province to ensure its implementation.

“In case of loadshedding even one minute beyond schedule on a grid, an FIR should be lodged against the relevant Pesco Xen” he told officials.

The chief minister said that he was ready to sit with the federal government to resolve the issues related to electricity in the province but it could happen only if the people of the province got immediate relief in power loadshedding.

He maintained that the provincial government wanted to give relief to its people through deduction from its payments to be made by the federal government.

“If immediate relief isn’t provided, then it is likely to result into law and order issues in the province,” he said.

Mr Gandapur regretted that the price of electricity had been increased from Rs16 to Rs65 per unit but still the issues could not be resolved.

He added that neither the people had access to electricity nor were the issues of the transmission system being fixed.

Mr Gandapur said that the federal government and Pesco were responsible for line losses in the province but poor people were being punished for that.

He said the provincial government was ready to cooperate with the federal government regarding issues of metering as well as recovery of arrears.

“We have already invited the federal minister for power to the Chief Minister’s House to discuss matters related to electricity in the province,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pesco chief Engineer Akhtar Hameed Khan chaired a meeting regarding power outages in the province.

In a statement issued by the power utility, Mr Khan said loadshedding was being carried out in those areas with high line losses.

He said 500 of Pesco feeders in the province were exempted from loadshedding.

“Our teams are working to reduce line losses across the province,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2024