PEPCO incurs Rs4 billion loss

Pepco has incurred a cumulative loss of Rs4b in the floods, including the washing away of Swat's 132KV grid station.

LAHORE: Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) has incurred a cumulative loss of Rs4 billion in the floods, including the washing away of its 132KV grid station in Swat and the destruction of Chakdara Swat line, besides thousands of transformers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa (KP) and 10,000 electricity poles, said Pepco managing director Tahir Basharat Cheema.

Cheema told reporters on Tuesday that Pepco staff had offered a day’s salary for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

While naming its defaulters, Cheema said that KESC is the biggest defaulter of Pepco with an outstanding amount touching Rs42.5 billion while the Sindh government is its second biggest defaulter owing Rs26.5 billion, the Balochistan government Rs12 billion and the Punjab government Rs3.2 billion.

Cheema said it was the worst ever damage after the 2005 earthquake and Pepco was prepared and had already set up emergency centers at important locations in distribution companies all over the country.

Consequently, he added, response to emergencies has been satisfactory. He said Pepco had already set up Flood Control Centres in all flood affected areas, to avoid any untoward situation.

According to him, maximum damage was incurred by the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) in KPK, tentatively estimated to be Rs2.5 billion. One 132KV grid station at Madyan has been completely wiped out, he said.

However, he added, 72 per cent power has been restored in KPK while it was above 90 per cent in other provinces/ Discos and only those areas remain disconnected which were under water.

He further said that installations of NTDC & GENCOs I, II, III and IV are all safe and functioning normally.

He said the flood entered the Mepco region after passing through Iesco and Fesco regions where transmission lines of 5000 electricity polls were under water and that restoration was underway. He said relevant arrangements were in place before the flood could enter the Hesco region. He paid tribute to Pesco employees and said no human loss was reported so far.

According to him, inventories at Iesco, Gepco, Fesco and Lesco are being transported to the KPK to meet with heavy losses of transmission equipment there. Some 200 transformers have already reached Peshawar, followed by electricity poles and wires to the affected areas, he added. Cheema assured that total replacement of damaged material would be in place soon as the water level decreased.

He specially mentioned that no loss had occurred to the NTDC and GENCOs of the company. He further added that oil supplies to the power generation plants were intact, as 21,000 metric tons had been supplied through rail and 50,000 metric tons through road links.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2010.