NEPRA to begin legal action against K-Electric for outages

Will ask power utility to immediately start two plants on alternative fuel

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has held K-Electric responsible for unplanned load-shedding and decided to initiate legal proceedings against the private power utility.

According to a statement issued by the power-sector regulator, a five-member committee of Nepra paid visits to K-Electric between April 11 and 13 to investigate complaints of unannounced load-shedding following curtailment of gas supply by Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC). Consequently, consumers were suffering from the outages.

The committee held comprehensive discussions with K-Electric officials, inspected main power generation plants and grid stations as well as conducted surveys of relevant areas. It noted that K-Electric was receiving around 50 to 60 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) less gas compared to April 2017 and the situation worsened after the increase in electricity demand due to early onset of summer.



Moreover, according to the committee, the infrastructure for alternative fuel/high-speed diesel at the gas turbine-based Korangi Combined Cycle Power Plant of 225 megawatts and Bin Qasim Power Station-II (BQPS-II) of 529MW was available.

However, K-Electric has not yet commissioned the same and adopted an “irresponsible approach”. “Had these systems been put in place, about 350MW could have been added and additional load-shedding could have been avoided,” it observed.

During the period March 27 to April 10, 2018, the committee noted underutilisation of the BQPS-I during morning, though it could have been operated at full capacity to minimise load-shedding. Average load on the BQPS-I was only 647MW against the available capacity of 1,015MW, it said.

Moreover, power unit-2 of the BQPS-I, with available capacity of 180MW, had been on an unplanned outage since September 2017 which indicated K-Electric’s poor maintenance plan.

Furthermore, the committee noted that the load management carried out by K-Electric was beyond its claims. In addition to the outages on account of gas curtailment, the K-Electric network also experienced faults that added hours to the unplanned load-shedding due to its fragile distribution system.

Nepra took serious notice of the violations reported by the committee and decided to initiate legal proceedings against K-Electric. Apart from this, Nepra decided to direct K-Electric to immediately start the Korangi Combined Cycle Power Plant and BQPS-II on alternative fuel/high-speed diesel.

Nepra sent an advisory to the government, which has a 24% stake in K-Electric, for immediate restoration of 190 mmcfd of gas supply to K-Electric. It was also decided to acquire a Ramazan plan from K-Electric in order to examine the arrangements made by the company to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the month.

K-Electric’s version

“We await full report on the subject, but we feel that the advisory issued by Nepra for ensuring 190 mmcfd of gas supply to K-Electric is a positive reinforcement, which will certainly enable the utility to restore routine electricity supply to the city,” said K-Electric in its response to the Nepra’s move.



Based on information available in the Nepra statement, it said, the tariff on high-speed diesel had not been determined. “As indicated in the statement, alternative fuel for gas-based plants has not been commissioned, therefore, K-Electric does not immediately have the option to use alternative fuel.”

K-Electric said all efforts were being made to bring on line in April one unit of BQPS-I, which was currently on forced outage.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2018.

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