- NEPRA says KE did not make appropriate investment in improving transmission system as in addition to load shedding, system faults and tripping added to power cuts which resulted in day-long outages
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) fact finding committee has revealed that K-Electric utilised its generation resources optimally during the recent power crisis, adding that its transmission and distribution system could not sustain 2500 to 2700 mega watts (MWs) of electricity injected to it, resulting in tripping and system breakdown, said a press release issued on Monday.
The findings have also revealed that KE has not made appropriate investment in strengthening/improving its transmission and distribution system and due to its failure to invest in these critical areas, service quality, reliability and supply to the consumers was seriously affected.
Taking note of recent power crisis in Karachi, NEPRA constituted a high level fact finding committee to ascertain the causes of frequent power cuts by K-Electric. The committee comprised consultants Masood Ahmad Khan, Javed Pervaiz, Senior Technical Advisor Hussain Zaigham Alvi and Standards Director Mazhar Ranjha.
The committee visited affected areas of Karachi, met with consumers and held a series of meetings with the K-Electric management. In its preliminary findings, the committee said that KE has categorised feeders from low loss to very high and carries out load shedding for 7.5 hours on very high loss feeders and 6 hours on high loss feeders during the day between 8am to 6pm.
This meant that only two hours of power supply was provided in day time in very high loss areas, the release said. In addition to load shedding, system faults and tripping added to power cuts which resulted in no electricity for certain areas during the entire day.
The final report is being prepared and further course of action shall be taken in accordance with law as per final outcome of the report, the press release further said.