Sorry sir, there is a PMT fault,” parroted representatives of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) customer centre on most calls made from Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Tuesday. What these power consumers were not being told is that the KESC had decided not to operate their oil-based generators, preferring instead to subject citizens to prolonged outages till such time that it started receiving fuel from either the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) or the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC).
The official line forwarded by the KESC is that the prolonged outages are because of a shortage in furnace oil supply from the PSO. Since the PSO was unable to supply the required oil, and gas supply already lowered, the KESC was forced to completely shut down two oil-based plants.
The KESC’s rationale for prolonged outages, however, is a façade: the power utility bought furnace oil worth Rs 500 million from refineries a few days ago, but did not make any attempt to do so again once PSO informed KESC officials that it could not provide them more than 700 MTs fuel due to a shortage in supply.
In truth, the government has relaxed rules to allow the KESC to buy directly from oil refineries and not just a distribution company. On the other hand, a KESC spokesperson told Pakistan Today that national refineries have their own limitations, and that’s why the power utility couldn’t buy oil from them.
Sources claimed, however, that no attempts were made to purchase fuel from oil refineries. “If the extra fuel was bought, the KESC could operate the Bin Qasim thermal power plant at full supply, and reduce the duration of outages. But it seems the KESC is not willing to operate the plant at full capacity,” sources said.
Throughout Tuesday, however, the power utility kept attributing prolonged outages to “technical faults.” Many residents of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, especially those from Mausamiat Chowk, had been forced to brave six hours loadshedding in three to four spells on Monday.
By Tuesday, their plight had worsened: power supply was disconnected around 10.00 am, only to be restored by 6.00 pm. Residents lodged a complaint with the KESC soon after power supply was disrupted and were told that the “PMT fault” would be repaired within an hour. Their grievance was tended to after more than eight hours.
Similar stories were reported from other parts of the city, including Gulshan-e-Iqbal, PECHS, Mehmoodabad, Abyssinia Lines, and parts of Keamari. Sources added that technical faults, including tripping of high-tension lines, cable faults and PMTs tripping, were due to overloading since the KESC had provided more connections than the its existing capacity could support.
