KESC plans conserving 200MW power in 2 years

KARACHI - The Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) declared that it will save 200 MW in two years under its Energy Conservation Plan. The utility had already contributed to this strategy by cutting down its own in-house consumption by 20 megawatts, which is 10 per cent of the total target. Industries have to put a major share of 65 per cent while commercial users will be adding 15 per cent. Domestic consumers share was 10 per cent in all.
KESC Chief Energy Conservation Officer Asif Hussain Siddiqui made the announcement at a news briefing here on Monday.
Siddiqui said the KESC had so far established direct contact with various key consumers as well as media organisations to seek their partnership, and it had received a very positive response since the campaign took off in March this year. Saving 200 MWs in two years will mean that we shall be saving 200 million dollars investment on the generation side, he explained. Propagating conservation of the product that we are selling might not be considered a very good business tactic, but we are doing it as a national service, he remarked.
The target of energy conservation campaign could not be achieved unless and until all segments of society fully understood the importance and urgency of cutting down on the use of electricity, he said, adding: This does not mean that we should reduce where it is essential, like in the sectors of industrial or agricultural production, or in the markets and homes. But, we should learn to use this essential commodity wisely and economically.
The KESC has so far held dialogue with various political and religious organisations, mosques, marriage halls and ethnic groupings. As many as 20 industrial units had voluntarily offered to control wastage of electricity while many banks, government departments, hotels, shopping malls, consulates, educational institutions and other big commercial concerns were also following the same practice. Siddiqui said that in total 62 major activities were in progress.
Syed Jan Abbas Zaidi, Chief Operating Officer Distribution, informed on this occasion, that at 2:00pm on Monday, the utility was supplying a total of 2,261 MWs of electricity to the consumers of Metropolis while there was a total demand of 2,266 MWs in the City. Therefore, there was a shortfall of 5 MWs in the afternoon, but the demand was bound to shoot up during peak hours in the evening.
He further stated that 94 feeders had tripped during the day on Monday and two transformers had been reported burnt down due to technical faults. In Gadap area, some HT cables had fallen because of the suspected attempts of stealing the cables. Most of these faults had been attended to, he said, and added that the process of registering complaints and rectifying faults had been improved to a great extent. However, still we have a long way to go to convert a monopoly state-controlled organisation into a consumer-oriented business outfit, he remarked.