PESHAWAR, Aug 18: Owing to persistent prolonged power outages the dealers of generators and uninterrupted power supply (UPS) units have got a golden opportunity to charge price of these items at their free will, as their sales go up. Unfortunately, there is no official mechanism for checking the prices and quality of such appliances.
During visits to different bazaars it was observed that prices of UPS units and generators have almost doubled compared to the previous year. Besides, the prices of such appliances in Peshawar main Saddar bazaar are higher compared to other shopping centres in the city.
The dealers said that complaints about unavailability of water were very common and people wanted to buy generators at least to run them for pumping water.
“The Chinese generators cannot properly work because they frequently develop faults,” a dealer said and added that majority of people used to buy UPS units, but they could not work properly due to prolonged loadshedding. At Shoba market, the locally-made heavy generators have become quite popular, but dealers avoid giving warrantee and one has to take the risk. Agenerator of 660 CC is available for Rs100,000 while that of 1300 CC and 1800 CC can cost up to Rs170,000.
A dealer Shafiq Khan said that locally-made generators were durable, but proper maintenance was essential as carelessness usually caused damage to dynamos, which could cost up to Rs33,000. “The 16 valves generators are very safe which can help draw water from tube wells, run air conditioners, over one dozen fans, refrigerators, computers, television and several lights,” Mr Khan claimed.
Faizan, a UPS mechanic at Fawara Chowk, said that the increasing duration of loadshedding had affected the business of UPS units and people preferred to buy generators because they could function non-stop. He said that UPS was noiseless facility, but could not give over one hour power backup.
Besides, the prices of batteries have also gone up exorbitantly. Warrantees of different duration are offered for new batteries, but the mechanic says that repaired batteries can also serve the purpose for three months with minimum expenses of Rs3,500.
Mr Faizan said that people must take care while buying generators because the dealers sell locally-made generators while falsely branding them as Chinese one.
“The factory owners use brand name of others and produce substandard products,” he said and advised the buyers to select foreign assembled generators to avoid problems for a long time.
In Saddar bazaar, the dealers are charging different rates for the same items and buyers have to make mind for bargaining otherwise the dealers could fleece them.
“We have many varieties of both manual and self-start generators, but we cannot give warrantee,” said a dealer Abdul Basit and added that in case of any fault the mechanics were easily available in the market.