HYDERABAD:The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hyderabad Electric Supply Company Muzaffar Ali Abbasi has admitted that load
management issues were affecting the technical capacity of feeders and grid stations adding that the management was making all-out efforts to control faults at installations.
He said electricity is being supplied to industrial and commercial sectors under the policies of the energy division.
He said this while addressing members of Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry here at HCCI secretariat on Saturday.
He said HESCO was under compulsion to ensure load management and disclosed that the load management schedule would be discussed in consultation with traders and businessmen.
He said a technical fault in a feeder causes a shutdown in other feeders of the area. However, he informed that the management has started bifurcation/separation of feeders that feed bazaars, shopping malls,
hospitals, courts and government offices.
He said commercial feeders would be separated in the future so that
traders could get an uninterrupted power supply. He promised that power
supply for industrial zone feeders would begin in 30 to 40 days and
said HESCO has established a Damaged and Repair Transformer Cell
(DRTC) so that damaged transformers could be replaced quickly after
having been burnt.
He said detection bills’ complaints are being addressed and the
management had achieved 90 percent recovery against the target of 100
percent as fixed by NEPRA.
The HESCO management had introduced ‘Roshan Pakistan’ application
where consumers could lodge their complaints, he informed and added
that the management had procured multipurpose six out of 15 buckle
mounted vehicles so far.
He sought cooperation of customers to overcome power pilferage and
illegal connections. He said a dispute resolution committee had been
formed under leadership of HCCI President to address defective
billings.
The HCCI President Adeel Siddiqui in his welcome address appreciated
efforts of the HESCO chief for streamlining the power utility’s
system.
He drew his attention towards issues confronting small industry and
said a small industry provides employment to 20 people and generates
Rs2 million annual tax. He said that closure of an industry causes
heavy loss to the economy and underscored the need for uninterrupted
power supply to small industry through an available express feeder as
this would ultimately benefit the city and Sindh province and
industrialists would be encouraged.
He said HCCI should be given representation in HESCO’s Board of
Directors (BoD) as per past precedent and urged the HESCO chief to
issue directives in this regard.
He said 50 units were set up in small industrial zones and 100 are
under pipeline adding that this zone would provide employment
opportunities to 20,000.
He lauded federal energy minister Khurram Dastagir for providing
buckle mounted vehicles to HESCO on recommendation of HCCI which had
been pursuing this issue.
The HCCI Chief called for separating the industrial feeder of
Hyderabad SITE for uninterrupted electric supply to ensure production
capacity of industries.
He said markets and shopping malls are the beauty of Hyderabad where
load management should be minimized to enable businessmen generate
revenue for government kitty.
He said HCCI supports tenure-based posting of HESCO chief for at least
two years so that he could deliver and the trend of replacing CEOs in
three or six months should be given up.
The Chairman HCCI’s sub-committee on HESCO Akbar Khan said no power
pilferage was reported in industrial areas therefore regular power
supply should be ensured there adding that traders pay taxes therefore
they should be dealt with dignity.
He informed that Aga Khan Feeder was giving 100 percent recovery and
this should be declared load management free feeder. He said HCCI
stands for the protection of HESCO’s field staff with all relevant
equipment and safety measures.
The HCCI Senior Vice President Najmuddin Qureshi, Patron Iqbal Hussain
Baig, Vice President Awais Khan, Chairman HESCO Sub-Committee Muhammad
Akbar Khan Durrani, Pahlaj Rai, Amir Shahab, Aslam Bawani, Syed Ali
Hassan Lajpal, Muhammad Adnan, Muhammad Saleem Khan and Salahuddin
Qureshi were also present on the occasion.