Relentless power outages

After K-Electric's failure to bring an end to loadshedding at least during night hours in Karachi, the Sindh Assembly's Special Committee on Energy last week directed all power distribution companies - particularly K-E - to present a formal loadshedding schedule. Citizens continue to brave power outages for extended periods of time and that too amid relentless heatwaves and record-breaking rise in temperatures.

KE has repeatedly ignored government instructions, evaded accountability and deflected blame onto consumers for its inability to ensure fair power distribution. The situation is especially concerning with current temperatures where consistent electricity is no longer a matter of comfort but rather a life-saving necessity. KE has chosen to justify these prolonged power outages by citing electricity theft as a longstanding issue. But by eluding its responsibility, KE contradicts its own previous assertion of installing theft-detection meters at every PMT and taking targeted action against areas with high electricity theft. If KE's claim of upgraded infrastructure does not offer relief to its consumers, what purpose does it serve except to save face?

Furthermore, KE, alongside Hyderabad and Sukkur power supply company's officials, attribute the chaotic schedule of loadshedding to high line losses. KE is particularly insistent that the line losses result from 300 distribution feeders that account for 87% of the utility's distribution losses. But instead of implementing targeted, administrative solutions as opposed to blanket loadshedding, KE has proposed the federal government assume control of them, claiming it would make Karachi almost "load-shedding free".

This is not simply a matter of infrastructure or electricity theft. The brunt of this crisis lies on the lack of accountability by power distribution companies during a time when government bodies and power supply companies should be working together to ensure fair and consistent electricity distribution.