Pay up: K-Electric claims provincial govt owes them Rs311m
The utility threatens nonpayment will lead to disconnection of electricity supply.
The KE spokesperson said that the duration in which the outstanding amounts have been accumulated varies from department to department. PHOTO: KE.COM.PK
KARACHI:
The K-Electric (KE), formerly the Karachi Electric Supply Company Limited, has once again asked 44 departments of the provincial government to pay the outstanding amount of Rs311,475,501 within the current fiscal year.
The utility threatened that failure to do so would leave it no other option but to disconnect their electricity connections.
In a letter issued to the provincial finance secretary, the KE public sector consumers department general-manager said, "We are unable to maintain such an adverse situation and cannot afford to keep such a massive balance in our receivables column. Please intervene in the matter and adopt immediate measures to clear the dues, otherwise action will be taken against the department under Section 24(1) of the Electricity Act 1910."
In the letter, KE has summarised the list of 1,779 connections that pertain to government departments. According to the KE, Civil Hospital, Karachi, owes them Rs15,321,213, the school education director owes Rs60,400,838, Auqaf owes them Rs6,125, 821, the board of revenue owes Rs6,865,922, the city courts Rs1,251, 421 and the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution Rs1,114,548. The list included names of other departments, such as the labour court, press information department, professional colleges, transport, education, forest, civil defence, food and industry.
The KE spokesperson said that the duration in which the outstanding amounts have been accumulated varies from department to department. "Some departments have not paid for the last eight to 10 months, while others have not paid for several years now," he said, adding that KE has now started disconnecting the electricity connections of defaulters as it has no other choice. "Due to the large outstanding amounts, we are facing a financial crunch. We want to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to our consumers but this cannot be done without consumer cooperation."
'Inflated' bills
The finance secretary avoided speaking on this issue and suggested that the energy department should be approached for this issue. "I have no idea about it," he said. "The energy department deals with the matter."
The energy department secretary, Agha Wasif, told The Express Tribune that there have been several disputes over the outstanding amounts as the power utility company has sent many inflated bills in the past. "Not only KE but also the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and other power companies have sent us incorrect bills that show nonexistent dues of millions of rupees," he said. "We have referred the matter to the electricity monitoring and reconciliation unit that was formed by the provincial government to settle this dispute with power utility companies. We can prove that the KE management has issued inflated bills and we will not release such huge amounts without checking the matter."
The energy secretary hoped that the matter will be resolved within the next few days and said that the committee, comprising of government officials, will summon the representatives of the power companies to reconcile the dues.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2014.
The K-Electric (KE), formerly the Karachi Electric Supply Company Limited, has once again asked 44 departments of the provincial government to pay the outstanding amount of Rs311,475,501 within the current fiscal year.
The utility threatened that failure to do so would leave it no other option but to disconnect their electricity connections.
In a letter issued to the provincial finance secretary, the KE public sector consumers department general-manager said, "We are unable to maintain such an adverse situation and cannot afford to keep such a massive balance in our receivables column. Please intervene in the matter and adopt immediate measures to clear the dues, otherwise action will be taken against the department under Section 24(1) of the Electricity Act 1910."
In the letter, KE has summarised the list of 1,779 connections that pertain to government departments. According to the KE, Civil Hospital, Karachi, owes them Rs15,321,213, the school education director owes Rs60,400,838, Auqaf owes them Rs6,125, 821, the board of revenue owes Rs6,865,922, the city courts Rs1,251, 421 and the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution Rs1,114,548. The list included names of other departments, such as the labour court, press information department, professional colleges, transport, education, forest, civil defence, food and industry.
The KE spokesperson said that the duration in which the outstanding amounts have been accumulated varies from department to department. "Some departments have not paid for the last eight to 10 months, while others have not paid for several years now," he said, adding that KE has now started disconnecting the electricity connections of defaulters as it has no other choice. "Due to the large outstanding amounts, we are facing a financial crunch. We want to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to our consumers but this cannot be done without consumer cooperation."
'Inflated' bills
The finance secretary avoided speaking on this issue and suggested that the energy department should be approached for this issue. "I have no idea about it," he said. "The energy department deals with the matter."
The energy department secretary, Agha Wasif, told The Express Tribune that there have been several disputes over the outstanding amounts as the power utility company has sent many inflated bills in the past. "Not only KE but also the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and other power companies have sent us incorrect bills that show nonexistent dues of millions of rupees," he said. "We have referred the matter to the electricity monitoring and reconciliation unit that was formed by the provincial government to settle this dispute with power utility companies. We can prove that the KE management has issued inflated bills and we will not release such huge amounts without checking the matter."
The energy secretary hoped that the matter will be resolved within the next few days and said that the committee, comprising of government officials, will summon the representatives of the power companies to reconcile the dues.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2014.