Decision to withdraw ISPA not ours: K-Electric

Karachi: KE is a responsible corporate entity and follows due process in every aspect of its operations. As such, the withdrawal of Industrial Support Package (ISPA) from July 2019 to December 2019 in the bills issued to industrial consumers is in accordance with the Ministry of Energy’s (MoE) notification and consistent with the bills charged to industrial consumers across Pakistan. This decision to discontinue ISPA during off peak hours was taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in its meeting held on June 26, 2019. It was effective from July 1, 2019 and has already been implemented in the rest of the country effective July 2019.

According to a KE spokesperson, the power utility was constantly in touch with relevant authorities to seek clarity over ISPA for necessary directions and seeking permission wherever applicable on its timeline and implementation. K-Electric continued to provide relief to industrial consumers during off-peak hours under the support package until it received directives/clarification from MoE to discontinue the same on January 2, 2020 and adjust the impact with effect from July 2019, on January 22, 2020. Furthermore, no surcharge has been included in the amount being billed to consumers in this respect. The power utility has also offered industrial consumers the option of paying it in installments to minimize the impact. To avail this facility industrial consumers are facilitated by dedicated liaison persons within KE.

KE has taken several initiatives over the years to facilitate industrial customers, including load-shed exemption of all industrial zones in Karachi, addition of new grids to meet growing power demand, reducing turnaround time for new industrial power connections and conducting energy audits to help improve energy efficiency of industrial concerns.***