Powerless: Electricity remains a dream for residents of upper Sindh

The utility is carrying out load shedding of more than 15 hours per day in the region

SUKKUR: The Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) has started the practice of declared and undeclared load-shedding for over 15 hours throughout upper Sindh.

Since the start of the winter season, residents of Upper Sindh have been facing the brunt of long power outages and low gas pressures. The supply did improve in the wake of protests by hotel owners and other consumers but it is still lacking.

Electric power is, however, another story as the Sepco officials seem to be apathetic towards the plight of their consumers. The power utility caters to 10 districts of upper Sindh, including Sukkur, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Shikarpur, Khairpur, Naushero Feroz, Larkana, Kamber-Shahdadkot and Dadu. In the more obscure areas, electric supply has become a distant dream as many of these villages are forced to stay without electricity for days on end.

In Ghotki district, electricity mostly remains suspended during the night. When supply does resume during the day, it usually stays for an hour or so and is then suspended for long hours again.  A similar condition is being witnessed in district Khairpur, where residents have to brave over 10 hours of power outages during the night. During the day, two hour-long outages take place after every one hour. The situation is even worse in Jacobabad, Larkana and Dadu where residents have to brave 18 to 20 hours of power outages.

Residents of Sukkur are also facing long hours of power outages, which have badly affected routine activities. Though the declared load-shedding is six hours, residents have to brave more than 15 hours of power outages on different pretexts.

A Sepco official, requesting anonymity, said that the long power outages were aimed to cover losses incurred to power theft. He said that some of the officials in different sub-divisions were assigned the task to keep certain feeders shut by engineering faults, for which they were given extra money.

Sukkur Small Traders Association president Jawed Memon told The Express Tribune that residents and traders have been irked by the undeclared power outages. He said that most of the business outlets were dependent on electricity and due to the long hours of outages, they were incurring heavy losses. Most of the small business owners, such as tailors, cannot afford to run generators for long hours and therefore go home empty handed, he said.

For his part, Sepco's public relations officer Noor Ahmed Soomro said that the utility was receiving 400 megawatts against its need for 460 megawatts, due to which it was forced to undertake undeclared load-shedding. On engineered faults, he said that the operation staff was responsible for this and the senior officals should take action against them.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2014.