According to rough estimates 80 percent Pole Mounted Transformers (PMTs) of the city are either outdated or overloaded, as Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has not been able to fulfil its commitment on infrastructure development for at least last one year.
According to sources about 9,500 PMTs across the metropolis were awaiting immediate attention of the public utility, which in its general meeting on October 30 last year had vowed to improve its infrastructure by replacing the defective and overloaded equipment with the new ones.
"Out of 9,500 at least 7,600 PMTs installed in different parts of the city are lying defective and overloaded which have not been replaced for years," source told Business Recorder on Friday. They said the Aljomaih-led management of the public utility had committed to replace its 2000 poorly functioning PMTs and install 3000 additional transformers for power distribution, but neither a single power transformer was replaced nor a new one installed.
According to sources there are 9500 PMTs of 250 kw in the residential areas of the city, 80 percent of which are overloaded which burst from time to time, causing power breakdowns in the respective areas. The management of the Company had purchased only 1200 transformers out of which 500 were used not in replacement of the existing PMTs but in parallel for distributing the load and the remaining of 750 transformers are still dumped in stores., they said.
KESC management had also installed the "check-meters" on 8000 PMTs to check the power theft in different areas of the metropolis but that too remained fruitless due to the company's inefficiencies, they added. Besides that the administration of the utility later, as the sources said, had decided to purchase the Auto Meter Reading (AMR) worth rupees six to seven thousand, and around 100 AMR had been purchased which had the capability to check the power theft from their offices, also proved no more than the loss of money.
The1500 PMTs of 500 kw mostly installed in small industries or factories, in the city are 70 to 80 percent over loaded. The 600 Substations of 1000 kw and 48 grid stations of 30 to 40 mw were all overloaded to the maximum capacity, they added. The sources accused the Company management of leading the private utility towards complete destruction due to its negligence and wrong policies.