KARACHI, March 23: The row between the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and industrial consumers intensifies as the power utility presses ahead with its load regularization campaign.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Monday that the KESC had earned Rs270 million by regularizing the load of 376 big industries which had previously been using more power load than what had been sanctioned to them.

They added out of 3,600 big industries in the city — authorized to employ more than 50 kilowatts each — the KESC had identified 1,144 whose owners were wilfully employing more power load than what had been sanctioned to them at the time of installation of electricity connections.

“In the absence of an effective survey of the amount of power load being utilized by consumers, industrialists had procured more electricity connections without informing the KESC. This was resulting in two types of losses. First, the KESC was losing revenue. Second, this was putting a great deal of pressure on the transmission and distribution system which would break down frequently.”

Industrial consumers, however, complained that the KESC carried out the load regularization in a very high-handed manner. They said when KESC teams disconnected power supply even at the slightest suspicion of excess load. “Quite often the KESC teams cut off our power supply without realizing that delays in manufacture of the goods we produce result in great losses.”

They added that the industrial consumers would have no choice but to pay for the power they were using. “The KESC makes us pay system development charges, but it does not spend the money on the transmission and distribution of our area. What is the point in paying system development charges when they are not used?” they wondered.

They complained that at times KESC teams included those equipment and machines in their calculations as well which were not used or which were out of order.

The sources told Dawn that by regularizing the power load of 1,144 industrial consumers the KESC would earn more than Rs1 billion. They added that the same sort of action had been initiated in small industries as well which were authorized to use less than 50 kilowatts.

“Out of 26,000 small industries in the city, 8,000 were found to be using more power load than what had been sanctioned to them.”

The KESC sources said that in commercial areas the KESC had earned Rs34 million by load regularization. “Over 15,000 commercial units have been inspected by the KESC. More than 7,000 owners of commercial units were made to regularize their power load. The exercise of load regularization will get the KESC Rs60 million.”

The exercise of load regularization was not without hiccup. The sources said that a large number of people had gone to court to stop the KESC.

When contacted, the KESC managing director, Brig Tariq Saddozai, said: “Nearly 80 per cent of industrial consumers were using more load than what had been sanctioned to them without informing the KESC. When we started the load regularization campaign, they thought they would not be able to continue robbing the power utility of its revenue. They managed to procure a stay from the Sindh High Court. But the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority came to our rescue. On May 31 last year it issued a notification allowing us to go ahead with the load regularization drive.”

Mr Saddozai added that the KESC had been empowered to collect system development charges by the Supreme Court. “Industrial consumers think that system development charges collected from their area will be spent on the transmission and distribution system of their area. That is not the case. We use the amount collected as system development charges where we think infrastructure upgrade is essential.”