Karachi Electric Supply Company security thwarts high tension copper wire theft attempt

Karachi: The Karachi Electric Supply Company security thwarted an attempt to steal high tension copper wire from the 132kV Pipri-KEPZ transmission circuit Saturday afternoon. The power utility’s security personnel reached the scene while the thieves were engaged in stealing a span of the copper conductor from the circuit.

The thieves had disconnected the circuit causing extra high tension tripping while a transmission team of the KESC was around for some work and they were noticed. The organized stealing of EHT conductor wire has become very frequent lately as the copper black market is doing a roaring business for the past several years. The KESC police has already raided a few junk dealers and recovered stolen copper wire. At least two truckloads of stolen copper wire have also been captured in the recent months.

During the past one month, there have been several attempts to steal copper wire off transmission circuits in Pipri, Gharo and Dhabeji areas, because of which the circuits tripped several times and it damaged a 250 MVA auto transformer worth Rs. 250 million. As precaution, the KESC had to develop direct line to ground conditions which resulted in potential risk to the entire EHT network thus decreasing the average life span of equipment like transformers, cables and even the power generation machines at power plants.

The theft caused frequent outages of electricity in the linked area creating bad image of the power utility. The system flexibility is also greatly compromised because of the frequent conductor theft and sometimes it increases the duration of normal load shedding in the connected localities. The theft has also caused great financial loss to the KESC as huge cost of work was involved in repair and restoration.

The KESC has demanded of the government to support the utility’s efforts in safeguarding transmission circuits because any damage or loss of the power transmission and distribution network was linked to the stability of power supply to citizens and City life.

For more information, contact:
Adil Murtaza
Assistant Manager, Media and PR
Karachi Electric Supply Company Limited (KESC)
2nd Floor, State Life Building No 11,
Abdullah Haroon Road, Saddar, Karachi
Tel: +9221 9920 7163
Cell: +92346 822 3641
Email: adil.murtaza@kesc.com.pk