Dark Eid in Sukkur despite new power company

SUKKUR: The people of Sukkur were forced to spend a dark Ramazan this year, even though the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) began working from August 13, the second day of Ramazan.

For his part, Sepco Chief Executive Officer Shamsuddin Sheikh denied that there are any power outages in Sukkur. “The power supply was suspended for around two, three hours on Thursday because we were shifting the load. Otherwise, there are no power cuts in Sukkur,” he told The Express Tribune.

He further clarified that his company is only responsible for distributing power. “If there is a shortage in the national grid, then we cannot avoid power cuts,” he said.

According to Sheikh, a power house started operating from Thursday and it has brought down the frequency of outages. The areas that will benefit from this power house are located on the left side of the River Indus, and are mainly Khairpur, Ghotki, Rohri, Gambat, Naushero Feroz and Moro. Sukkur, Larkana and Shikarpur are located on the opposite bank and are therefore linked to another network, he added.

Residents complained of long power outages, frequent tripping of feeders and breakdowns in the name of maintenance as they struggled to make it through taraweeh prayers each night. Some people were expecting the company to perform efficiently during the start but were disappointed.

The power supply to Shahi Bazaar was suspended at 2:45 pm on Friday. An official, requesting anonymity, disclosed that the power supply has been cut to shift some load from the Shahi Bazaar feeder to another feeder.

Even though Sepco gave the same reason for cutting power on Thursday, the official clarified the feeder had developed a fault again and he was unsure how long it would take to restore the supply.

On Thursday, the power supply to Shahi Bazaar was shut down at 4:15 pm. Officials claimed that they were shifting the load to another feeder and the entire procedure would not take more than an hour. However, the bazaar remained dark even after six hours.

“We had shifted some load from the Shahi Bazaar feeder to the Bunder Road feeder but it developed some fault,” explained Sepco Executive Engineer Operations Ashfaq Bhatti, at the time. He added that their workers are busy shifting feeders to avoid over loading and tripping.

The Shahi Bazaar feeder used to supply power to the centre of the city, which includes most of the big shopping centres and a large residential area. Main bazaars and malls in Sukkur are thronged with shoppers in the last 15 days of Ramazan but prolonged power cuts during the evening ruined business for several shopkeepers. There has also been an increase in the number of shoplifters and pickpockets during Ramazan as they take advantage of the darkness.

“Both of our transformers are over loaded and therefore eight and 12 hours of power outages are being carried out in urban and rural areas, respectively,” incharge Lodra Grid Station Shikarpur Zulqarnain told The Express Tribune.

According to Zulqarnain, two transformers, with a capacity of 160 megavolt ampere (MVA) each, are installed at the Lodra grid station. These transformers are supplying electricity to several cities of Sindh and Balochistan, including Sukkur, Shikarpur, Karampur, Kandhkot, Jacobabad, Humayoon, Ratodero, Naudero, Larkana, Shahdadkot, Qamber, Garhi Khairo, Jhal Magsi, Gandawah, Usta Muhammad, Suhbatpur and Jhat Pat.

Both transformers are overloaded as they can only supply 1,400 amperes while demand is 2,000 amperes, he added.

A new transformer with a capacity of 160 MVA has been installed at Lodra grid station and it is expected to start operating after Eid, said Zulqarnain, adding that the electricity crisis will come to an end once the transformer starts functioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2010.