K-Electric responsible for power crisis: Nepra

ISLAMABAD: A preliminary report of the fact-finding committee constituted by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has held K-Electric responsible for power outages saying that K-Electric did not make appropriate investments in strengthening its transmission and distribution system that affected its smooth operation.
“K-Electric has not made appropriate investment in strengthening and improving its transmission and distribution systems and due to its failure to invest in these critical areas, service quality, reliability and supply to consumers was seriously affected,” a preliminary report of the fact-finding committee released by the regulator stated on Monday. The final report had not yet been finalised because NEPRA had sought some more details from the K-Electric such as the exact number of transformers, inventory stocks and others.
When contacted, the Nepra spokesperson said that the regulator wanted to complete its report within this week but it depends upon the availability of detailed information which the regulator has sought from the K-Electric.
When asked about the maximum powers of the regulator, she said that the regulator could cancel the licence, impose a penalty up to Rs100 million and could appoint an administrator in case of finding out gross violation on part of the licensee.
The Nepra had constituted a committee to ascertain the facts relating to the power crisis in Karachi that resulted in deaths of over 1,000 people at the time of rising mercury in the city.The committee consisted of Masood Ahmad Khan, consultant, Javed Pervaiz, consultant, Hussain Zaigham Alvi, senior adviser technical, and Mazhar Ranjha, director standards.
The committee visited the affected areas of Karachi, met electricity consumers and held a series of meetings with the management of K-Electric. The committee had given its preliminary findings and as per the findings of the committee, K-Electric utilised its generation resources optimally during the crisis. However, when it injected 2,500-2,700MW electricity, its transmission and distribution system could not sustain it, which resulted in tripping and breakdown.
K-Electric had categorised feeders from low loss to very high and carried out loadshedding for 7.5 hours on very high loss feeders and six hours on high loss feeders during the day between 8:00am to 6:00pm. This meant that only two hours of power supply was provided in the day time in very high loss areas. In addition to loadshedding, system faults and tripping added to power cuts which resulted in no electricity for certain areas during the whole day.
The final report is being prepared and further course of action will be taken in accordance with law as per the final outcome of the report.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the K-Electric has rejected the allegations leveled in the preliminary report prepared by the fact-finding committee to ascertain the causes of loadshedding in Karachi when the city was severely hit by a heatwave that resulted in the deaths of over 1,100 people.