PA committee warns KE, Hesco, Sepco to end night-time loadshedding

A special committee of the Sindh Assembly on electricity issues has given 10 days to the three power distribution companies in the province to adopt a fresh schedule of loadshedding in their respective jurisdictions to ensure maximum relief for their consumers, especially by ending night-long power cuts.

The special committee, which held its meeting in the committee room of the Sindh Assembly building on Monday, also warned the power distribution companies of lawful action against them if its directives were not complied with. MPA of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party Fayyaz Butt chaired the meeting that was especially attended by Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Awais Qadir Shah.

The concerned members of the committee expressed dissatisfaction at the fact that power consumers in Karachi and elsewhere in the province continued to suffer unannounced power loadshedding during peak summer.

Representative officials of the K-Electric (KE), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) were grilled by the concerned lawmakers on continuing instances of prolonged night-time loadshedding.

The MPAs demanded that the three DISCOs not resort to night-time loadshedding in their respective areas. They asked the KE, Hesco and Sepco officials to curtail power supply as per their loadshedding plans for summer. K-Electric CEO Moonis Abdullah Alvi and senior officials of Hesco and Sepco attended the meeting.

The KE CEO apologised for not attending the previous session of the special committee. The lawmakers questioned the KE chief about the laws governing the loadshedding regime in Karachi. Alvi replied that line losses in the system of the power utility were the reason for the continuing loadshedding in the city.

A member of the committee suggested that police cases be lodged against officials of the KE for their act of unlawful loadshedding in the city. The KE CEO informed the committee members that the city's power utility would not resort to loadshedding in Karachi when the maximum mercury level touched 45 degrees Celsius.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) MPA Muhammad Farooq said the committee's deliberations should result in extending due relief to the suffering power consumers in the city. He said the JI had been proposing setting up an alternative power distribution company in the city. He threatened to boycott the next session of the committee if the power utility did not change its anti-consumer policies.

The KE CEO conceded that the power utility had failed to curb electricity pilferage in different parts of Karachi and asked the government to take punitive action in such affected localities. He also conceded that the KE had failed to disconnect the power supply to the areas where electricity was being stolen.

The Sindh Assembly speaker urged the three DISCOs in Sindh to formally announce their load-shedding plans and adhere to them. A concerned legislator, Asif Moosa, said that certain concerned businessmen who had planned to set up their power distribution company had been facing undue opposition.