$80 million will be spent on conversion of gas-based plants to combined cycle and $80 million will be injected into smart grid stations. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO/EXPRESS/FILE
ISLAMABAD: Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has devised a five-year business plan, entailing an investment of $500 million in converting furnace oil-based plants to coal-fired and improving transmission and distribution of electricity in Karachi.
KESC Board of Directors Chairman Tabish Gohar disclosed this while talking to Water and Power Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar here on Thursday.
Gohar was accompanied by a five-member KESC delegation including CEO Syed Nayyar Hussain, Chief Strategy Officer (Islamabad Head) Khalid Rehman, Director Government Relations Sajjad Shahani and others.
On the government side, Water and Power Ministry Special Secretary Hamayatullah Khan and Joint Secretary Power Zergham Ishaq Khan were also present.
According to a statement issued here, Gohar said the KESC’s Bin Qasim Power Plant would be switched over to coal – imported and local – in an attempt to generate 400 megawatts of cheaper electricity with an investment of $300 million. This conversion to coal will take 18 to 20 months.
Another $80 million will be spent on conversion of gas-based plants to combined cycle and $80 million will be injected into smart grid stations.
Gohar expressed the hope that with this fresh investment, the power system in Karachi will improve, power theft will come under control and line losses will also come down.
He also spoke about outsourcing some of the company’s feeders as well as future plans to meet electricity needs.
Mukhtar, while praising the business plan, asked Gohar to utilise all resources in order to ensure uninterrupted power supply to consumers.
“Karachi is the business hub and lifeline of the country’s economy, so the industrial community should get cheaper and uninterrupted power supply,” he said.
Saying that the KESC should generate maximum electricity from its plants to meet Karachi’s requirements, he underlined the need for the company to take steps to produce inexpensive power.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 22nd, 2013.
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KESC to invest, yeah right. They are only investing in increasing the rates of the consumer and nothing else. Yes, I will give them credit for better customer service to the consumer, but all insiders who work for the KESC and who deal with the KESC know that KESC can finish load shedding but simply do not do so as they make and get cheaper electricity via WAPDA and their gas fired plants which they sell at a higher rate. Now if they were using their oil fired plants to generate electricity their cost of electricity will shoot up, so lower profit margins while at the same time NEPRA would want to decrease the amount of gas/cheaper electricity being provided to KESC. Bottom line the profit margin will decrease.