In a protest against extensive load-shedding and hefty billing outside the K-Electric head office on Tuesday, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) demanded of the authorities to cancel the license of the power utility.
Talking to media during the demonstration in Karachi’s Gizri area, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman also demanded a forensic audit of the KE and urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to “at least take notice of long power outages during the coronavirus crisis”.
He said people were restricted to homes given the coronavirus pandemic and the hours-long power outages had made their lives miserable under a blazing sun. But the KE, he added, was still sending them inflated bills in the name of the fuel adjustment charges.
He said if the KE did not “rectify its attitude”, the party would hold demonstrations at various parts of the city for an uninterrupted power supply to the residents of Karachi.
He accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Peoples Party of colluding with the KE in allowing inflated bills and unannounced load-shedding.
He appealed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to hear their petitions pertaining to the matter pending in courts for the last three years. Hafiz said citizens infected with COVID-19 were dying due to load-shedding, while the KE carried on with its “lame excuse of the tripping of its main stations”.
Naeem said the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) had imposed heavy fines on the KE back in 2015 when the power utility “did not run all of its power plants and many citizens died in the heatwave during load-shedding”.
Naeem said the KE had again failed to increase power generation as per an agreement and despite extensive load-shedding of up to 14 hours, people were receiving thousands of rupees worth of bills.
“We will be the voice of the people and will demand the authorities to revoke the license of the K-Electric for not delivering,” Rehman said. Lamenting that the KE was “deliberately shutting down plants to optimise its profits”, the JI leader said the electricity provider had “replaced copper wires with aluminium wires to save money”.
Rehman also condemned the provision of fuel by Nepra to the KE. "[Prime Minister] Imran Khan is shutting down steel mills and giving Rs36 billion subsidy to the K- Electric [at the same time],” Rehman noted.
Holding placards, the demonstrators chanted slogans against the KE. Police were present on the occasion. Addressing the protesters, JI lawmaker and Member of Sindh Assembly (MPA) Abdul Rashid lashed out at what he termed KE's incompetence. He said the institution came under the supervision of the federal and provincial governments.
“There are power outages for long hours in [almost] all areas of the city,” he complained. JI leaders vowed to hold city-wide protests against the KE if it did not rectify inflated bills and end unannounced load-shedding.
KE statement
The power utility issued a statement, saying that with temperatures crossing 37 degrees centigrade and the revival of industrial and commercial activities, there has been a marked increase in electricity demand which recently peaked at 3400 MW.
According to the press statement, while the power utility remains committed to serving its customers with safe and reliable power supply, it is facing generation constraints on account of inconsistent fuel supplies.
“Both furnace oil and gas supplies are below KE’s current demand, which will affect the power utility’s ability to maximise its generation capacity. Currently, there is a daily shortfall of 800MTs of furnace oil, and nearly 14000MTs of furnace oil orders remain unserved. Similarly, in view of the furnace oil shortfall, an increased supply of gas is required to operate power plants optimally.”
It said the KE depended on third-party suppliers for its fuel supply chain which was critical for powering Karachi and its surrounding areas. “While the KE is fully cognizant of and grateful for the support provided by its fuel suppliers under the extremely difficult situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the power utility has also been highlighting the challenges that it is encountering to all relevant stakeholders for close to three weeks now so that these issues may be urgently resolved in the best interests of the people of Karachi.”
It continued: “The power utility welcomes the immediate remedial measures taken by the Cabinet Committee on Energy to permit the import of furnace oil. This will enable the KE and other IPPs to meet the sustained high demand for power over the next three months and will benefit the citizens of Karachi at a time when people are staying at home in order to comply with social distancing protocols.”