Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power on Monday directed power Distribution Companies (Discos) to disclose the name of the defence institution which has opposed installation of Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system on feeders which supply to defence and strategic installations.Presided over by Senator Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar, the committee discussed compliance of recommendations made during its meeting held on June 22, 2016.
Load shedding is between 14 and 16 hours in far flung areas of the country and electricity problem in Chitral also includes low voltage. Senator Nauman Wazir Khattack of PTI, an engineer, raised technical questions with the team of Water and Power Ministry led by Additional Secretary Hasan Nasar Jamy and comprising officials from Pepco, NPCC and Discos. The team, however, failed to respond to any technical questions during the entire meeting, which created an embarrassing situation for the team leader.
When Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak sought details of procedure/mechanism for preparing real time data of electricity demand and supply in the country none of the Discos officials, who are also engineers by cadre, provided any information.
"We want live data of load shedding in the next meeting including details of each feeder and this should be ensured," said Senator Khattak. Chairman Standing Committee endorsed the viewpoint of his colleague.
Senator Khattak also raised the issues of installations of AMR meters on feeders across the country to get real time data.
"You have installed AMR meters in the country. Have you installed AMR meters across Pakistan?" he questioned.
Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak claimed that to the best of his knowledge, AMR meters have not been installed on feeders which supply electricity to defence installations or other places of strategic importance. He further stated that the electricity being consumed by these places is passed onto other consumers in the name of line losses.
"When would AMR meters be installed on all defence and strategically important installations? And who asked you not to install AMRs there? If any defence institution has barred the Discos from doing so, let us know. You are supposed to install AMR on all feeders," he added.
The representative of NPCC avoided speaking on this sensitive issue and referred it to the Discos that, according to him, are in a better position to respond.
Senator Khattak argued that with the installation of AMR meters on feeders which supply electricity to defence and strategically important installations, Discos will be able to get real load data and plan accordingly.
The committee also discussed replacement of 30,000 existing agri tube-wells in Balochistan with solar tube-wells.
The officials of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) briefed the committee that progress is being made in this regard in consultation with the energy department of Balochistan. They claimed that the government is extending Rs 20 billion to Balochistan government for this purpose.
Chairman Standing Committee Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar who also belongs to Balochistan said that the amount of subsidy for two years running should be spent on this scheme. However, Senator Taj Haider and Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak suggested that AEDB first analyzes the level of ground water of each tube-well and then install solar tube-well.
Senator Samin Abid raised the issue of massive load shedding in Chitral. The committee was informed that due to constraints Discos are unable to take their entire quota. The committee members, however, were not ready to accept the logic given by the Discos.-MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN