No forced power outages in industrial areas

Lahore power company says those involved in theft to be punished.

LAHORE: Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) Chief Executive Sharafat Ali Sial has announced that forced power outages would come to an end for the entire industrial sector in Lahore on the demand of the industry.

“From now onwards, there will be no more forced load-shedding for the industry,” he said while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday.

He said that the industry was his priority and all possible steps were being taken to facilitate the business community in general and the industrial sector in particular.

The Lesco chief also told the LCCI members that the long-awaited New Kahna Grid Station and Transmission Line Project has been commissioned.

When the issue of high prices of electricity and repeated increases in tariff was raised, Sial said that negotiations with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) are under way on high fuel adjustment charges in Lesco as the distribution company is the highest revenue generating distribution company (Disco) while line losses are at the lowest compared with other distribution companies.

He said that in an effort to stop electricity theft, Lesco has adopted the policy of carrot-and-stick and all company men found involved in this crime would be given punishment, while those doing good work would be rewarded. A quarterly review would be carried out in this regard.

He said that the Lesco management committee, in which private sector is represented to make certain decisions on sector-wise load management, would be activated as soon as the LCCI forwards its names for the committee.

The LCCI-Lesco Dispute Resolution Committee will also be activated after LCCI names its representatives for the committee.

LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh drew the attention of Sial towards the energy crisis, saying power outages not only halt the production process but also increase the cost of production because shifting to generators, powered by diesel, is hardly affordable.

He said that the price of electricity had been increased by 72% over the past four to five months but no serious attention was paid to efficiently manage the load and explore economical ways of generating electricity.

Sheikh said that Lesco still needs to do a lot to minimise line losses, reduce distribution losses and control theft. However, he acknowledged that Lesco’s overall distribution losses stood much lower than other power distributors, at 11%.

Distribution losses of Peshawar Electric Supply Company are around 35%, Karachi Electric Supply Company above 40%, Hyderabad Electric Supply Company around 40% and Quetta Electric Supply Company at 25%.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th,  2011.