WHILE there is understandable focus on mitigating woes of the general public in Karachi because of power outages, which have been compounded due to excessive rains and urban flooding, there is also need to have a realistic review of the overall situation and also address genuine concerns of the K-Electric (KE). There are apprehensions that any hasty move could further aggravate the power supply and distribution issues in the industrial, commercial and financial hub of the country with serious implications for the entire economy.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has started a process that might lead to early termination of KE’s exclusive distribution rights, which are, otherwise protected under the law till 2023. Mindful of the disastrous consequences of such a move for its plans and programmes, the KE management has approached authorities concerned telling them that it might have to seek international arbitration on the issue and it is quite evident that such a development would strike a severe blow to the power issue of Karachi as was done in the case of Reko Diq. There is no doubt that the power supply and distribution situation in Karachi needs to be improved on an urgent basis in view of what is happening there for the last several months. We must not lose sight of the fact that it took full five years for the last PML(N) Government to add meaningfully to the national grid to get rid of the chronic problem of load-shedding. The Government was fully focused, spent billions of dollars and also successfully enlisted support of the friend country China under the umbrella of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to move on all fronts – hydel, thermal, solar, wind and nuclear – to get the desired results and consequently the country became surplus in power generation after about two years of departure of the previous Government. KE too has a multibillion dollar programme of investment both in generation and distribution sectors but it would take some time to materialize. Apart from other projects, it is also working on a 900-MW power plant that would contribute significantly to alleviate sufferings of the power consumers of Karachi if everything goes as per schedule. As for distribution system, this surely needs upgradation and revamping as it has also led to some deaths but again the problem is not exclusive to KE as similar conditions exist in almost all big cities and towns of the country where distribution companies could not improve the system as per ground requirements because of want of heavy investment. It may also be noted that replacement of the elaborate and tricky distribution network is a time-consuming process and one must not expect miracles from the KE.
The KE has legitimate concerns and justified points to make as far as the issue of new entrants in generation and distribution systems are concerned. Everyone knows that a number of local and foreign cellular companies are keen to enter Pakistan’s flourishing telecom market but the Government, instead of allowing them to enter the market with latest technologies, decided to sell 3G/4G spectrums to the existing operators with a view to giving them enough time period to make use of their investment in the field. Most of the distribution companies (discos) are loss incurring but why so far no move has been made to bring other companies in the distribution business despite poor performance, high line losses and rampant corruption. In view of large-scale Kunda practice (brazen daylight electricity theft) in Karachi and Hyderabad, would new entrants be willing to operate in high-loss low income areas or they would prefer posh areas alone. Do the new companies would merely take over the existing generation and distribution networks or they would be bound to invest on system improvement, which again could mean a long and cumbersome process (for new entrants) that would further delay the realization of the cherished objective of resolving problems of electricity consumers of the city. The authorities concerned should refrain from any move that is seen as mere discrimination by KE and that could discourage not just investment plans by the company but also send negative signals to prospective investors in other fields. The KE has embarked upon a comprehensive programme for resolving problems of the consumers under the leadership of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Moonis Abdullah Alvi, who has 28 years of diversified experience and understands all dimensions of power issue because of his long association with KE. The company should be facilitated in implementation of the programme so that Karachiites could get relief at the earliest.
