PESCO facing acute staff shortage

The Senate Standing Committee on Power was informed on Friday that there was an acute shortage of staff in Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) as out of the 27,000 sanctioned staff, almost 50% had already retired.

During a meeting chaired by Senator Fida Muhammad, the implementation of committee recommendations and setting up of a 132-kilovolt grid station at Dargai were discussed.

Pesco chief told the committee that the company’s staff had been overburdened due to shortage of employees, which was affecting performance of the power utility. “Around 1,000 employees retired last year,” he revealed.

The committee was informed that a site had been selected for setting up a 132kv grid station at Dargai and work on it would be completed by 2022.

Regarding installation of power transformers on the existing 132kv Dargai grid station, the committee was apprised that the electrical equipment foundation had already been completed and transformers would be installed by December.

Tribal Electric Supply Company (Tesco) CEO apprised the committee that the company posted only 12% losses. The committee recommended that all pending work in the merged tribal districts should be completed by December.

The committee was told that 24% work in Mohmand and 33% in Bajaur had so far been completed.

Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) chief told the committee that 126 feeders had been exempted from load-shedding while load management was being carried out on other feeders due to losses.

Power Division secretary said reforms were being introduced in the entire power sector. “In the past, maximum investment was made in power generation rather than in transmission,” he recalled. All-out efforts were being made to enhance bill recoveries and reduce losses, he said.

Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi said industrial units in the erstwhile Fata remained closed from 2009-2017 due to a military operation against militants but bills worth millions of rupees were sent, even though all meters were installed inside the grid station. The committee sought a detailed report on the matter.

Regarding disconnection of meters of a consumer, the committee was informed that six meters were installed at a three-storey building including a three-phase meter.

There were three shops and one warehouse which were running on domestic tariff. The SDO has already served a notice twice, asking the consumer to install separate transformers for flats and shops. APP