Electricity woes: It takes time to rectify decades-old wrongs, admits SEPCO chief

Vows to end power theft, unannounced load-shedding and excess reading

SUKKUR: The chief executive officer (CEO) of Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco), Dilawar Hasnain Memon, said since his posting in November 2015, he has issued directives to bring an end to power theft, unannounced load-shedding and over-reading of meters.

He was speaking to a delegation of National Press Club, Sukkur, at his office on Tuesday.

“I have ordered all the officers to address public complaints on priority basis,” he said. Talking about the complaints against wrong and excess readings, he said that despite the introduction of mobile meter reading system and meter readers being trained to use the system, complaints are still pouring in against the readers for not recording correct readings. It takes time to overcome decades-old wrongs, but we are taking every possible measure to address public problems, he claimed.



According to Memon, electricity meters at many places are installed at a height, making it almost impossible for the meter readers to focus. “Therefore, I have issued instructions to install meters at a proper height and within easy reach of meter readers,” he said. He added that most of the complaints are received against meter readers, who deliberately do not record the correct readings, putting customers in a fix.

“I have served in Sukkur in the capacity of executive engineer and superintendent engineer and now I have been posted as the CEO,” he said. “I promise that all energies will be utilised to curb corruption from the company.”

Replying to a question about undeclared load-shedding and engineered faults, the CEO said he has received complaints against it and has sought reports from the relevant officers. His attention was invited towards prolonged power breakdowns on the weekends, especially on different feeders of the Old Sukkur Sub Division. He assured that he will look into it and resolve the matter. According to him, he has instructed officers to carry out minimum load-shedding on feeders where recovery is more than 70 per cent to give relief to the customers.



Talking about replacing the old and worn-out conductors with Aerial Bundle Conductor (ABC) cables, the CEO said the project is on the cards and after getting approval from the SEPCO Board of Directors, work will be started in all major cities under the utility. He said the reason for most breakdowns is old high-tension and low-tension conductors and this problem would be resolved by replacing them with the ABC cables.

“Nowadays corruption is rampant in every sphere of life, but I have resolved to root it out from Sepco,” he said, requesting the media to extend positive cooperation in pinpointing the black sheep. “My focus is on minimising line losses, to increase recoveries and to slash down the hours of load-shedding.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2016.