Sindh blames Centre for worsening electricity crisis

The responsibility of putting an end to the power load-shedding in Karachi lies with the federal government. 

This was said by Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh as he addressed a press conference on Monday after meeting with officials of K-Electric (KE), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco).

He was if the view that due to the incompetence of the federal power division, people of Sindh, including Karachi, were suffering from load-shedding. “The big thieves of power are sitting in the Islamabad power division,” he said, adding that it was surprising that Hesco and Sepco had returned 550 megawatts of power, saying that they did not have that much demand.

He said the areas covered by Hesco and Sepco were facing load-shedding while the power utilities were returning power. The provincial energy minister maintained that in other provinces there were more power theft and line losses than Sindh. He added that the federal power minister and power division had animosities towards Sindh.

The people of Sindh were being taught a lesson for not voting for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, Sheikh said. He lamented that KE was carrying out announced load-shedding of seven to nine hours and there was no time limit for unannounced load-shedding.

Sindh provided the cheapest electricity to the national grid, he said, adding that if power was being stolen in Sindh, it could not be without the involvement of Hesco and Sepco. He asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority chairman and federal power minister to visit Karachi and tell its people when the load-shedding would end. “The biggest issue in the city is of power production,” he said, adding that the federal government did not approve a 500-megawatt project for the city.

Sheikh informed the media that talks had been held with the heads of the three power companies on the issue of over-billing and the Sindh government would fully support any person using the legal recourse against the three utilities after getting inflated electricity bills. He also denied some media reports that said the Sindh government had entered into an agreement with KE.