THE digital meters installed at agriculture tube-wells in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have produced encouraging results for the Peshawar Electric Supply Company.“The time of use (ToU) meters have helped control electricity theft,” said Shaukat Afzal, spokesman for Pesco. The company has, so far, installed around 8,000 such meters in different parts of the province.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) in February 2007 had instructed Pesco to install ToU meters at all agriculture tube-wells with sanctioned load of 20 kilowatt and above in the province by June 30, 2008. Later, the authority asked the utility company to install the new meters with sanctioned load of 5kW and above.
The step was meant to introduce two separate tariffs in the agriculture sector, dividing the 24-hour daily cycle into two parts – four peak hours and 18 off-peak hours. The electricity charges for the peak hours are higher than the rates for the off-peak hours. It is aimed at controlling use of electricity during peak hours and curbing power theft by introducing digital meters.
The move coincided with the introduction of a new and increased electricity tariff for irrigation and agriculturetube-wells.
The impact of tariff increase was expected to softened by installing the ToU meters in time, but that has not been the case.Pesco failed to meet the deadline of June 30, 2008. The deadline was extended twice, the latest being June 30, 2011, that hastoo been missed. The company as yet has not been able to install new meters at all tube-wells totalling around 50,000 in the province.
“It is an on-going process and more new meters are being installed,” said the Pesco spokesman.
The new meter, equipped with an Electrically Programmable Readable Only Memory (EPROM), stores separately data of electricity consumed during peak hours and off-peak hours. The hourly and date-wise records stored into the EPROM remains available for 12 months to 16 months and the same can be downloaded to a computer for detailed examination. It also records the electricity load, its kilowatt hour records, in addition to voltage and the electric current records.
The introduction of new meters, however, has not been free of problems. The provincial government is of the view that the delay in the installation of digital meters at all tube-wells has caused financial losses to its irrigation and agriculture departments and the farming community alike.
The government’s Energy Monitoring Cell, created in the provincial finance department to reconcile electricity payment figures with Pesco, is of the view that the delay in installation of ToUs has deprived the tube-well connection holders of the benefit of the two-part tariff, rendering them to pay more as per the new tariff introduced on February 24, 2007.
The EMC has also taken up the issue with the Consumers Affairs Department of Nepra and the federal government regarding the ‘illegality’ committed by Pesco. The EMC, according to its officials, is of the view that the new two-part-tariff for tube-wells should not have been introduced till the installation of new meters.
Similarly, the government argues that the exercise will not benefit tube-well connection holders in the absence of billing as per the new two-part tariff. It has moved Nepra in this regard, maintaining that Pesco has not started billing in accordance with the two-part tariff wherever the digital meters had been installed – a point rejected by Pesco spokesman.
He said the company’s staff, including meter readers, superintendent engineers and executive engineers were trained in recording reading from the ToU meters.
The KP government has conveyed to the federal authorities its concern about the alleged ‘ineffectiveness’ of the new meters in case of prolonged power outages particularly in rural areas.
It is of the view that the two-part tariff cannot benefit farmers unless round-the-clock supply of electricity is ensured. Rural areas in KP experience 12-16 hours power outages daily during summer, leaving little option for tube-well connections to remain operative during off-peak hours.