Kunda system a major cause of load shedding, excess billing

[LRE]

Kunda system a major cause of load shedding, excess billing




* Turn off 3,000 commercial signs, extra lights in over 200 restaurants and 300 tyre-repair shops on encroached land and save 200 MW

By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: The city is suffering from prolonged and unannounced spells of load shedding again despite the improvements in hydel power generation, which has reduced the countrywide shortfall by 1,000 MW.

The two hourly load shedding is not included in the total announced hours of load shedding, bringing it to more than 6 hours daily.

According to sources in KESC, the utility can save at least 200 MW to minimise the shortfall and to ensure uninterrupted power supply to residential and industrial consumers provided that attention is paid to power consumption for shop signboards, digital and other billboards, juice takeaway stalls and tyre-puncture shops or at least these should be properly included in the regular commercial consumers’ category so that the regular bill paying customers do not pay their bills inclusive of the difference generated by these shops, commented the utility insider.

Pakistan Outdoor and Media Advertisers Association (POMAA) President and Asia Sign Association (ASA) Pakistan Region, Regional Chairman Mohsin Durrani told Daily Times that there are at least 2,400 giant billboards across the streets of the city and more than 3,000 commercial shop signs at shops, restaurants, hospitals, hotels and other sites. Each billboard of 10 by 20 feet is lit with one 400 watts light, a billboard measuring 15 by 45 feet needs a 1,600 watts light, a billboard measuring 20 by 60 feet needs 2,400 watts and rooftop billboard of a 30 by 90 feet size needs 4,800 watts light. However, shop signs consume tenfold power. KESC has banned electricity connections to billboards but shop signs are lit the whole night.

A well-placed officer in KESC told Daily Times that shop signs are consuming at least 10 percent of the total consumption.

There are at least 150 tyre-puncture shops situated at every petrol pump while more than 300 tyre-puncture shops are located on footpaths and streets. The shops that are within the petrol pump premises have legal connections, meaning that they are within the metered-consumers camp while the remaining are provided with power connections through the kunda system just for Rs 500 per month. More than half of the tyre-puncture shop owners have links with KESC’s employees, who ensure that they do not suffer any consequences, alleged the sources.

Each tyre-puncture shop on an average has two 1,000 watts electric iron, one air pressure pump and at least one 200 watts bulb for only Rs 500 per month. The difference of load in terms of money is shifted to those consumers who pay their electricity bills through meter readings. Likewise, the juice takeaway stalls also do the same and their billing is also made in the same manner as that of the tyre-puncture shops. It is not only the insiders of the utility but the land department of town municipal administration of the concerned town and the area’s police are also involved in these activities, said the sources.

More than 200 restaurants that are opened till late at night are among the major consumers of electricity, majority of these restaurants are established on footpaths and link roads that they have encroached. Switching off the lights of these restaurants will save at least 100 MW, suggested the sources.

The kunda-dependent tyre-repair shops that have two 1,000 watts electric irons consume 40 units in 24 hours, 1,200 units in a month and 14,400 units in a year. If approximately 300 tyre-repair shops exist on a kunda based system they collectively consume 12,000 units in a day, 360,000 units in month and 4,32,0000 units in a year, claimed the sources.

The utility has often claimed that power shortages are due to many reasons including 35 to 40 percent line losses and 40 percent power consumption that occurs through illegal connections. The utility claims that there is an acute 200 MW shortfall but the fact is that the shortfall has exceeded 400 MW due to certain reasons including shutting down at least one Bin Qasim Thermal Power Station (BQTPS) unit, DCL-Co-Gen being off the grid, frequent tripping of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) and operating BQTPS units with gas at low generation capacity, claimed the sources.

Despite repeated efforts, KESC’s corporate communications concerned personnel could not be connected for comments.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg12_9