K-Electric considering power outages for industries

• Exempted feeders may also be subjected to load-shedding for three to five hours each day.
• On KE’s the average demand for energy is currently 3,200-3,300 megawatts, with an average shortfall of 400MW.
• Similarly, furnace oil has doubled in price to Rs150,000 per tonne, up from Rs74,000-75,000 per tonne a year earlier.
• K-Electric provides electricity to over 2.5 million industrial, commercial, and residential customers in Karachi, Sindh, and Balochistan.
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• With effect from May 27, the government hiked the price of petroleum products by Rs30 per liter.

KARACHI: To help individuals avoid defaulting on monthly bill payments, K-Electric (KE) may consider reinstating load-shedding across its consumer network, including the industrial zones, and increasing the duration of outages in the already afflicted areas.

“The cost of power production has gone beyond peoples’ affordability,” KE’s Chief Marketing Officer Sadia Dada said on Wednesday.

“Producing expensive electricity is no more viable and sustainable,” she said.

“K-Electric may consider power breaks for three to five hours a day in the areas where there is zero load-shedding these days,” she said, adding that industrial zones have been free from power outages for the past 11 years.

“Our top priority is to continue providing uninterrupted power supply to the exempted areas, particularly industrial areas, but financial constraints may force us to resort to power outages,” she said.

Read More: K-Electric increased its tariff by Rs4.8 per unit

“We would make a formal announcement before resuming load-shedding in industrial areas,” Dada said.

She stated that KE has 2,000 feeders installed, with 1,000-1,300 feeders being spared from the outages. Exempted feeders may also be subjected to load-shedding for three to five hours each day.

Furthermore, 500 feeders experience outages ranging from eight to ten hours per day, while another 200 to 300 feeders experience load-shedding for five to seven hours each day.

In the next days, weeks, and months, the duration of blackouts on the already afflicted feeders may increase by a few of hours, she warned.

On KE’s the average demand for energy is currently 3,200-3,300 megawatts, with an average shortfall of 400MW. “The peak demand touched 3,600MW on Tuesday (May 31),” she said.

The cost of fuel in power generation has risen to Rs13-15 billion per month, as the KE uses expensive fuels such as furnace oil, re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG), and diesel to generate electricity, following Sui Southern Gas Company’s (SSGC) decrease in the supply of locally produced cheaper gas to almost zero these days.

Read More: K-Electric inculpates SSGC for recent power outages in Karachi

For the month of March, the cost of the fuel component in electricity generation increased by roughly Rs5 per unit. “This will go up to Rs12 per unit in the coming months.”

She noted that the fuel cost adjustment (FCA) used to range between Rs0.50 and Rs2 per unit.

According to her, the impact of the recent FCA of Rs5 per unit resulted in an additional burden of Rs13-15 billion for KE customers.

SSGC previously supplied 130 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of locally generated gas for Rs857 per million British thermal units (mmbtu). It now provides 100 mmcfd of imported RLNG at a cost of Rs4,700 per mmbtu.

When compared to domestically produced natural gas, the cost of imported RLNG is 5.5 times greater. “K-Electric’s gas bill has spiked to Rs4.5 billion a week (Rs18 billion a month) compared to Rs3-3.5 billion a month earlier,” she said.

Similarly, furnace oil has doubled in price to Rs150,000 per tonne, up from Rs74,000-75,000 per tonne a year earlier.

Read More: K-Electric apologises to citizens of Karachi for rise in load-shedding

K-Electric provides electricity to over 2.5 million industrial, commercial, and residential customers in Karachi, Sindh, and Balochistan.

She predicted that the cost of the fuel component in electricity generation would rise even more when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirement of reducing subsidies on petroleum goods, such as gas and diesel, was implemented.

With effect from May 27, the government hiked the price of petroleum products by Rs30 per liter. It is being considered to raise the rates by an additional Rs30 per liter.

KE has written to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and other officials about the lack of indigenous gas and the high cost of fuels in order to gain some relief for the general populace.

KE’s management according to Dada, is in talks with banks to extend the company’s borrowing capacity in order to satisfy the rising demand for working capital. It would aid in the improvement of electricity supply to consumers.

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