NEPRA seeks details of KESC’s investment plans

• 14 years ago (2010-04-22)
• David Flin

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Pakistan’s National Electric Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has asked the present management of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to formally submit the details of increase in power generation capacity, auxiliary load of new power plants, and investment plans to turnaround the utility.

Maqbool Ahmad Khawaja, a member of NEPRA, said: “According to the data available to NEPRA so far, all of which is based on the data given by KESC, the new management has increased the generation capacity of the utility by just 95MW. If KESC is claiming that the generation capacity has been increased by 450MW, then it has to provide details of this addition in writing to NEPRA.”

One observer to a hearing discussing potential power rate increases said that Karachi should not be further burdened financially as it would increase the menace of power pilferage in the city. “Instead, the KESC management should control its O&M costs by slashing unnecessary expenditures including those on disbursing high salaries and perks to senior officials of the utility.” It was also felt that KESC should curb the increasing non-technical T&D losses in the KESC system. Participants to the hearing lamented KESC’s failure to curb illegal connections and other forms of power theft.

KESC has asked for T&D losses for the period 2009-10 to be set at 27 per cent, with one per cent reduction in this level every year.