PESHAWAR: Frustration among the consumers against unbearable power outages across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has increased as the mercury touched 42 degree centigrade in the provincial capital.
The electricity disruption day and night in different parts of the province has caused hardships for the consumers and led to acute water shortages. The consumers have no other option except taking to the streets to vent their anger against the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and the caretaker government for failure to ensure power supply.
On a daily basis, unscheduled loadshedding is carried out for around 18 hours in urban and 20 hours in rural areas of the province, which produces cheap hydel power double than its consumption.
Ironically, the caretaker government and Pesco authorities have miserably failed to get the due share of the province according to the agreed formula of 17 percent of the total production. Loadshedding in the province would not have exceeded five hours had the province got its due share.
The loadshedding did not come down from 18 hours despite the fact that the country faced 3,000 megawatts shortfall on Sunday as total generation remained 11,500 megawatt against the demand of 14,500. Keeping in view these figures, the loadshedding should not exceed five hours as the shortfall comes to one fifth of the total demand.
It could be simply calculated that the actual production would not be more than 6,000 megawatts and there could be something dubious leading to long hours of loadshedding. This establishes the fact that payment to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) is made on exaggerated figure.
There should be a powerful body to check if the figure of electricity production is correct. It should also determine the status of the demand-supply gap and duration of loadshedding in the country.
Consumers also doubt the claims of power distribution companies, who often try to befool the masses. For instance, the consumers in Peshawar faced 18 hours outages on Saturday as electricity remained suspended for two hours duration after every one hour interval and sometimes power was restored just for 10 to 15 minutes. Gulberg area near the Peshawar Cantonment was one of the most affected localities where electricity hide and seek continued 24 hours and people, especially children, were forced to stay on the streets and roads the whole night.
The residents have been facing acute water shortage and in some areas of the city the people have to buy water from the tanker for their daily use. Same is the situation in other parts of the city and districts where protests against power outages have become the order of the day. In some areas, traders too have threatened not to pay electricity bills if the loadshedding was not stopped immediately.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-7-180006-Frustration-grows-over-power-outages-in-KP
The electricity disruption day and night in different parts of the province has caused hardships for the consumers and led to acute water shortages. The consumers have no other option except taking to the streets to vent their anger against the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and the caretaker government for failure to ensure power supply.
On a daily basis, unscheduled loadshedding is carried out for around 18 hours in urban and 20 hours in rural areas of the province, which produces cheap hydel power double than its consumption.
Ironically, the caretaker government and Pesco authorities have miserably failed to get the due share of the province according to the agreed formula of 17 percent of the total production. Loadshedding in the province would not have exceeded five hours had the province got its due share.
The loadshedding did not come down from 18 hours despite the fact that the country faced 3,000 megawatts shortfall on Sunday as total generation remained 11,500 megawatt against the demand of 14,500. Keeping in view these figures, the loadshedding should not exceed five hours as the shortfall comes to one fifth of the total demand.
It could be simply calculated that the actual production would not be more than 6,000 megawatts and there could be something dubious leading to long hours of loadshedding. This establishes the fact that payment to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) is made on exaggerated figure.
There should be a powerful body to check if the figure of electricity production is correct. It should also determine the status of the demand-supply gap and duration of loadshedding in the country.
Consumers also doubt the claims of power distribution companies, who often try to befool the masses. For instance, the consumers in Peshawar faced 18 hours outages on Saturday as electricity remained suspended for two hours duration after every one hour interval and sometimes power was restored just for 10 to 15 minutes. Gulberg area near the Peshawar Cantonment was one of the most affected localities where electricity hide and seek continued 24 hours and people, especially children, were forced to stay on the streets and roads the whole night.
The residents have been facing acute water shortage and in some areas of the city the people have to buy water from the tanker for their daily use. Same is the situation in other parts of the city and districts where protests against power outages have become the order of the day. In some areas, traders too have threatened not to pay electricity bills if the loadshedding was not stopped immediately.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-7-180006-Frustration-grows-over-power-outages-in-KP
