Heatwave and blackouts electrify generator sales
Aamir Shafaat KhanUpdated 20 minutes ago
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A young man puts oil in a power generator as another looks on. — White Star.
KARACHI: Sales of power generators have skyrocketed by up to 40 per cent in Ramazan as citizens, hit with
rolling power cuts and heatwave in the fasting month, consider other options.
The situation is the worst in Karachi whose residents face unscheduled blackouts of eight to 12 hours a day as the city’s main power utility, K-Electric, struggles to keep the lights on. Protesters in the city set tyres ablaze on Tuesday, a day after two protesters in Peshawar were shot dead.
“Our sales have risen by 30-40pc. People are mostly buying generators of 2 to 3 kVA capacity,” said the owner of Sikandar & Co. at the Shahrah-i-Liaquat generator market.
Sikandar Shahzada said prices of power-generating machines remained unchanged and there has been no issue of shortage so far. “People have lost hope loadshedding will ever come to an end,” he said. He said 3kVA generators of good quality sold for Rs36,000 to Rs40,000 and that of medium quality for Rs30,000.
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Chairman of Pakistan Machinery Merchant Group Khurram Saigal also confirmed that sales have shot up 40pc in Ramazan over the previous month. He said China held 95pc market share in portable generator sales.
He said the price of good-quality 3kVA generator was around Rs32,000 while medium-quality ones were available for Rs26,000. Similarly, 2kVA generators were selling for Rs16,000 to Rs25,000, he said. These types of generators are popular among households and shops.
Karachiites face loadshedding of up to 12 hours
He said the markets had enough stock to meet the demand with no imminent shortage in future.
When asked why the import bill of power generators has jumped 71pc year-on-year in July-April to $2.634 billion, he said the imports largely comprised heavy-duty generators used in projects in both private and public sectors.
Major buying is for ongoing power projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Moreover, private-sector builders are installing standby generators of 100-250 kVA capacity at their project sites. In Karachi, around 80 to 100 high-rises are constructed every year.
Generator imports rose to $1.838bn in 2015-16 from $1.37bn in the preceding fiscal year. It was $1.1bn in 2013-14 and $959m in the year before.
Demand for generators from industrial consumers has subsided due to zero loadshedding in industrial areas, especially in Karachi, for the last few years. However, industrialists too have now started to make hue and cry over rising power cuts.
Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2017
PM orders audit of circular debt claims
Khaleeq KianiUpdated 44 minutes ago
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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered a third-party audit of the fresh circular debt claims — File
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered a special audit of fresh c
ircular debt claims of Rs480 billion and third-party analysis of the power demand-and-supply situation on the basis of projects that are coming up for commercial operations.
While presiding over a meeting of the cabinet committee on energy, the prime minister directly asked former water and power secretary Younus Dagha questions about the rosy days he had promised last year.
A senior official told Dawn that Mr Dagha, who was called on the prime minister’s special instruction, termed the prevailing situation “a management problem”. Otherwise, there was no “exceptional surge” in demand, he said. He told the meeting that demand and supply numbers were almost unchanged from last year, even though fresh generation capacity had also come on line.
Mr Dagha told the prime minister that he would be involved in the micromanagement of distribution and generation companies and kept their workforce on its toes. He said it was still a management issue and could be managed.
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The prime minister was not satisfied and believed that he was misled last year. He said summer was no excuse for an increase in power shortfalls because it was expected and should have been proactively planned for.
Finance ministry contested payables of Rs480bn reported by power ministry
The prime minister also asked about idle generation capacity and whether it could be put to use to minimise public suffering. However, Water and Power Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar explained that the option was deliberated at length but was not found feasible. Rental power plants like Reshma and Gulf were too obsolete and could not meet sustainability tests and tripped immediately after being energised, he said.
On the other hand, small power projects like Fatima and Southern Electric Power Ltd were under litigation.
Sources said the power ministry reported estimated payables of Rs480bn, which were contested by the finance ministry. The prime minister was told that the secretaries of finance and power ministries had deliberated on the financing plan, but the two top officials strongly differed over the payable claims.
It was noted that various power companies owe Pakistan State Oil Rs301bn, which is a record high.
The prime minister ordered that accurate figures for the estimated power demand and supply from existing as well as under-implementation plants over the next 12 to 36 months should be calculated. He also asked the authorities to re-verify the amount of circular debt from third-party auditors to ascertain claims attributed to fuel payments, line losses and other factors.
The prime minister stressed on the inclusion of provincial representatives in decision-making on important issues related to the power sector, particularly in relation to the proposed amendments to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority.
Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb and other senior officials attended the meeting.
Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2017
