KARACHI, May 11: The recently privatised KESC is trying its best to maintain power supply to all its consumers but the load-shedding in Karachi would continue till October this year.

This was stated by the Chief Executive Officer of the KESC, Frank Scherschimidt, while speaking at seminar on Karachi’s Continuing Power Supply Problem organized by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) at its Vicky Zeitlin Media Library here on Thursday.

The CEO said that the new management would inject $400 million in KESC over the next three years to enhance power generation and augment supply.

KESC does not have enough power input to meet the requirement of this cosmopolitan city. No investment to set up sufficient power generation units has made in the past.

He said consumers were dissatisfied with KESC service and they felt being treated unfairly. “They have lost trust in metering and billing system which is really a bad situation.”

According to Mr Scherschimidt, the total electricity requirement for Karachi is 2,228 megawatts of which KESC supplies 50 per cent. The annual power increase in city is seven per cent.

“We are earning 10 per cent less revenue than expenses which needs to be balanced by corrective steps. In view of the increase in fuel prices, we can approach Nepra after every three months for adjustment in tariff,” he added.

He said that with the commissioning of the Hubco link on May 15, the KESC would start getting additional power. He felt that power conservation could minimize load-shedding. He pointed out that KESC had two million consumers and if half of them could switch off only one bulb, this could save 100 megawatts.He said the problem of low voltage could be overcome by using new cables and technology.

“We need at least two more years to properly improve power supply.”

Chairman of the Helpline Trust Hamid Maker told the seminar that people were suffering the problem for the past 10 years. He pointed out that the KESC tariff was too high and beyond the reach of common man. He urged the new KESC management to rationalize the power tariff.

Nisar Shaikhani, Chairman of the Fuel and Power Committee, Site Association of Industry, said that Site, the biggest industrial consumer of KESC and the largest industrial estate of the county, was hit hard due to the scheduled and unannounced load-shedding. Low voltage was another major problem for it, he added.

President of the Consumers’ Foundation Ms Huma Bukhari said that the KESC distribution system had become obsolete and failed to cater to the needs of power consumers. She stressed that KESC had to ensure an uninterrupted supply to all its consumers and rid them of faulty meters and the problem of inflated billing.

Farooq Moin acted as moderator at the seminar.-—PPI