Karachiites braved massive power outages as four power generating units of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) stopped functioning on Thursday. Sources claimed the reason for these units not functioning was tripping in the extra high-tension line of the company and gas shortages.
According to sources in KESC, after the disruption of supply from the four units, at least 545 megawatts gap between demand and supply has resulted in long power outages across the city. The two units at Bin Qasim Thermal Power Plants (BQTPP), having the power generating capacity of 200MW each had stopped functioning soon after, what the sources claimed, a massive tripping occurred in one of the company's extra high tension line.
Another two gas-based units at Korangi Thermal Power station (KTPS) and Korangi Gas Turbine (KGT), having the electricity generating capacity of at least 100 and 65 MW respectively, were also shut down due to the shortage of gas, they added.
The remaining units of BQTPP, they said, were also not running on their full capacity of 200 MW which has reduced the total supply of the company to at least 1500 MW against the demand of over 2000 MW of the city. They further said, although the power generating units at Bin Qasim are dual-fuelled, to run either on gas or furnace oil, the company is running them on lower capacity for, what it claimed, low gas pressure.
With the shortage of hundreds of megawatts, many areas especially the city's outskirts have started facing an hour's loadshedding after every one hour, they added. According to sources, the management of the company, which cries over the power theft and recovery issue, has done nothing to improve the company's system which causes the prolonged power breakdowns time and again.
It worth mentioning here that despite the complete blackout the city experienced two times within a month, the company's management has done nothing to improve the system which causes power breakdowns for many hours in the city. The company's annual report of 2008-2009 clearly showed lack of maintenance work of the de-rated system, as the transmission and distribution losses of the company have increased to alarming 35.85percent.
The management which, after taking control of the public utility had claimed to transform KESC from a loss making and inefficient organisation into a top operational/technical performance utility, had done nothing but to debt it with more losses by its imprudent expenditures. Besides the Thursday's development, people in the parts of Korangi, Malir, Gulsha-e-Iqbal, Martin Quarters, Orangi, Gaddap, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Baldia, Site, Bin Qasim, and Lyari Town, complained that they could not sleep the on Wednesday night due to the frequent power cuts.
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