Lights out, says KESC

KESC announces increase in duration of power outages for all consumers after after KANUPP encounters problems.

KARACHI: The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) stopped its supply of electricity to Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) on Sunday after the plant encountered technical problems. “KESC was receiving 76 megawatts of electricity from KANUPP until Sunday when the supply was halted,” KESC spokesperson Amir Abbasi told The Express Tribune. “No timeline has been communicated to us as to when the supply will be restored but it normally takes up to ten days for the facility to get back online when it encounters trouble,” asserted Abbasi.

KESC has announced an increase in the duration of power outages for all consumers. Explaining the rationale behind this decision, the spokesperson stated that it “continues to receive 150 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas from Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) instead of its approved quota of 276 mmcfd”. Abbasi said that “high power loss areas will see four cycles of unannounced outages for two hours each on a rotational basis” adding that “areas with medium power losses will undergo three spells of 1.5 hours each”.

KESC will also shut off power to industrial zones for four hours at a stretch. Industries were earlier exempted from outages. However all industrial zones have now been divided into two groups. The first group will remain without power from eight in the morning to noon while the second will experience outages from noon to four in the evening.

KESC on the offensive

KESC has vowed to continue this enhanced load shedding schedule “till the SSGC resumes normal gas supply to KESC”. However the gas provider has already intimated that supply to KESC will be reduced by another 70 mmcfd between October 27 and November 4 to just 80 mmcfd.

An official release issued by SSGC in this regard on October 22 had announced that the Zamzama gas field will undergo scheduled maintenance on these dates and that 204 mmcfd gas from the field will be unavailable to SSGC during this period.

Speaking to The Express Tribune last Friday, SSGC spokesperson Inayatullah Ismail had asserted that “KESC management has already been taken on board” regarding the decision.

In the past, KESC has resorted to burning furnace oil when it does not receive enough gas supply to meet energy requirements. However, emboldened by a recent Sindh High Court directive that ordered SSGC to improve gas supply to the power provider, KESC seems reluctant to burn relatively expensive furnace oil to meet energy demand.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2010.