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Over Rs 23 million in dues

KESC disconnects power supply to seven private consumers

Staff Report

KARACHI: The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has disconnected power supply to seven non-paying private consumers who owed the utility a total amount of over Rs 23 million.

The KESC, with the active support of police, also attacked the network of copper wire thieves and buyers.

This was stated by KESC Chief Operating Officer (Distribution) Jan Abbas Zaidi at a media briefing on Saturday. He was accompanied by KESC Chief Marketing Officer Ovais Naqvi.

The disconnected consumers that were using illegal power included Johar Complex, which owed Rs 15.1 million; Savana City Apartments in Gulshan, Rs 7 million; TNT Colony near Cosy Water Park, Rs 0.8 million; Al Fateh CNG Station, Rs 0.29 million; Liaquat Market, Rs 0.1 million; Rufi Lake Drive in Johar Town and a cattle feed cutter at Maymar Gadap.

Zaidi said that the KESC employees at various BOCs had demonstrated remarkable results by attacking the network of copper wire theft, especially the individuals who bought these extra high tension cables because it was them who were encouraging this theft, adding that FIRs have been registered and thieves have been arrested on the KESC employees’ reports, which was a positive sign and it needs to be further expanded.

Zaidi asked the consumers to get the individual load extended as per their present consumption to avoid overloading the system, which had been causing issues for both sides. He said that the existing power supply cables could only accommodate the load that had originally been sanctioned for a particular premise; however, almost all consumers had added electronic equipment and instruments to their households or workplaces without applying for load extension, which has resulted in overloading the system and the consumers have been facing voltage issues.

Reply to a question, he said that the SSGC had been supporting the KESC in a major way and the existing shortfall of gas was just a consequence of the annual maintenance at Zamzama Gas fields, which had strained the electricity generation. He said that it was because of the constraints that the KESC had been receiving 187 MMCFD of gas at 2:00 pm on Saturday as against its approved quota of over 270 MMCFD, adding that at that time, the total demand of electricity stood at 2,002 MW, while the KESC had been supplying 1,801MW. He added that Wapda had been providing 620MW and that IPP KANNUP was still offline, but was expected to resume power generation by Monday.

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