Load shedding woes: Govt trying to curtail electricity supply to KESC

Joint secy says the KESC violated contract signed with NTDC.

LAHORE:

The federal government is trying to curtail the supply of electricity to the Karachi Electric Supply Company, from 650MW to 350MW, over violation of three contractual provisions by the KESC, Ministry of Water and Power Joint Secretary and Pakistan Electric Power Company Managing Director Zargham Eshaque Khan told the Lahore High Court on Monday.   

Khan appeared in court for hearing of several petitions regarding load shedding and over billing. He said the KESC had breached three provisions of a contract signed with the National Transmission and Dispatch Company Limited. The first was the non-payment of Rs54 billion outstanding electricity bills to the NTDC. Secondly, the KESC was supposed to establish an electricity shortfall of 2,424MW which it failed to do. He further accused the KESC for drawing electricity in excess of 650MW for more than 60 minutes, in contravention of the contract.

He said the ministry would soon submit a reply regarding an audit of Rs480 billion paid to private power companies. He said the reply would mention guidelines for procurement, repair and maintenance of hardware by DISCOs and issues of overbilling by DISCOs in conflict with the meter system installed in grid stations by the government. Khan assured the court that the ministry would also issue guidelines to DISCOs on how to prevent overbilling and check electricity theft.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said overbilling by electric supply companies was entirely unfair especially since load shedding had been on the rise. DISCOs charged exorbitant rates for electricity without providing any, he said.

Over billing just added to the common man’s burdens, Bandial said. The court will again take up the matter on February 7. The petitioner had submitted that load shedding had made life miserable for citizens...and industries were also suffering.

The Supreme Court had already ordered supply of gas for electricity generation but the directions had not been followed. The petitioner said the apex court had also ordered an audit of Rs480 billion paid to the IPPs. The petitioner said the government had done this to favour certain IPPs regardless of whether they produced the agreed amount of electricity or not.  Load shedding had recently increased to almost 10 hours every day in certain cities, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2014.