SHC asked to restrain KE from subjecting citizens to unannounced power outages

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has reserved its judgment on a petition against unannounced electricity load-shedding and issuance of collective bills in areas where power theft has been reported.

Through the petition, Karamat Ali and others asked the court on Monday to take action against the K-Electric for its arbitrary and unannounced load-shedding policy and practice.

The petitioners’ counsel submitted that the KE was not implementing the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (Nepra) decision of March 25 last year, despite the fact that Nepra had dismissed the power company’s review petition.

He submitted that citizens were facing hardships due to frequent unannounced load-shedding, and asked the SHC to restrain the KE from carrying out unannounced power outages.

The KE’s counsel told the court that power outages were being carried out due to gas load-shedding and the falling of an electric pole in Jamshoro. He assured the bench that the power company would implement Nepra’s directives.

The court asked the government’s counsel why Nepra by itself could not initiate proceedings against the KE on account of unannounced load-shedding. Nepra’s counsel said the authority would initiate proceedings as soon as it received a complaint against the power utility.

Nepra had earlier informed the court that the KE continued to underutilise its own generation capacity and draw power (650MW) from the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) despite the expiry of the power purchase agreement. After hearing the arguments, the SHC reserved its judgment.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman filed an application for becoming an intervener in the petition, and demanded that the government nationalise the KE again.

He also demanded that the government impose an emergency within the power company so as to investigate unannounced load-shedding being carried out by the KE administration.

He asked for constitution of a judicial commission to investigate into the KE’s affairs, besides conducting the power utility’s forensic audit so as to unearth the misappropriation within the company.

He said had the KE run its power generation plants on full capacity, Karachi would have been freed of load-shedding, adding that the utility was not running its power generation plants according to their respective capacities.

A day earlier, after being subjected to a major power breakdown during the first Sehri of Ramazan in the wee hours, the citizens of Karachi were forced to endure outages during Iftar as well.

The claims of the KE were proven false as power supply to several areas of the city remained suspended during Iftar. The affected localities included Malir, Rafah-e-Aam Society, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Gulzar-e-Hijri among several others.

With the mercury already soaring high, the citizens were forced to break their fast in the absence of electricity. Earlier, in the wee hours, the city was hit by a major power breakdown, which the K-Electric said had resulted from the extra high-tension tripping in the Jamshoro 500kV line.

However, electricity was restored by morning in different parts of the city, including Lyari, Buffer Zone, Gulshan and Gulistan-e-Jauhar through the power company’s backup system.

Earlier, NTDC Managing Director Dr Fiaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the matter was being looked into, and the investigation into the reason for the breakdown would be completed by afternoon.

The power outage is also expected to affect the water supply to the city. The KE claimed that it was in the process of restoring power supply to major water pumping stations, including the Dhabeji and Pipri stations.