KARACHI, Jan 21: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation will install power meters on 5,800 pole-mounted transformers and 2,300 substations this year in its attempt to reduce transmission and distribution losses.
Last year the KESC installed power meters on 52 grid stations and 818 feeders. This ongoing anti-power theft exercise is being monitored by the Planning Commission of Pakistan on a monthly basis.
Previously, the KESC had no mechanism to determine how many electrical units sent out by the Bin Qasim power station were dissipated in technical losses and pilfered by those who indulged in power theft.
Official sources told Dawn that installation of power meters on pole-mounted transformers and substations had begun in January. They added that all anti-power theft measures would cost the KESC Rs200 million.
They recalled that as part of the same exercise 58,000 domestic consumers and 12,000 big industrial consumers had received new meters. They said that the provision of new meters had started the previous year.
KESC officials said mobile testing vans of the power utility could find out at the doorstep of a consumer whether his electricity meter ran fast or not. They added that the meter installation exercise would continue and in the first phase some 700,000 meters would be replaced by June 2004.
"Installed 30 or 40 years ago, the old meters have become slow now. These metallic meters have become eroded over the years. They should have been replaced long ago. Since the old electricity meters ran slow, consumers feel that their new meters run fast while they are using the same power load," they explained.
The official sources said the federal government would give the KESC Rs13 billion over three years to develop its infrastructure. "The government has already released a grant of Rs1 billion. The government will release Rs3.2 billion this year to enable the KESC to purchase at least 10 power transformers to reduce overloading."
They said the KESC lost at least Rs4 billion every year because of theft of electricity. "Previously power theft (20 per cent) equalled technical losses. The system improvement exercise carried out by the KESC has reduced technical losses to 18 per cent. Technical losses in the distribution network totalled 12 per cent and in the generation network equalled six per cent."
The official sources said that under the ongoing system improvement exercise, which would be completed in 2006, technical losses would be brought down to 12 per cent.
Speaking about the 20 per cent power losses because of electricity theft, they said 3.5 per cent of power losses was accounted for by illegal connections (kundas), 8.5 per cent by power theft of residential consumers, 1.5 per cent by those who bypass the electrical meters, and 6.5 per cent by theft in heavy industries.
The sources said that metering of feeders revealed that at least five feeders supplied electricity to those localities where power theft was as high as 80-100 per cent, 77 feeders to 80 per cent, 181 feeders to 60 per cent and 205 feeders to 20 per cent.