KE’s monopoly on Karachi’s power supply to end in 2023, says energy minister

The Sindh government will take action against the K-Electric (KE) if it is provided evidence to prove that the privatised power utility has not been consuming furnace oil for power generation and thus, worsening the situation of power crisis in the provincial capital.

Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh made the announcement to this effect on Thursday while addressing a press conference at the Sindh Secretariat. He said the monopoly of KE on the power supply system of Karachi was going to end in 2023. He added that recently, the KE chief executive officer (CEO) was called by the chief minister over sufferings of the people of the city due to recurring power cuts.

According to Shaikh, the power utility CEO informed the CM that load-shedding lasting up to nine hours was being carried out in the city due to high cost of power produced by furnace oil. The minister said that early closure of the markets and shopping centres in urban areas would provide only a temporary solution to the persisting issue of power crisis. He added that the Sindh government would take such a decision only after consulting the fraternity of the concerned traders and businessmen of the city.

He expressed the hope that the present federal government would overcome the energy crisis in the country. He blamed the last federal government for the current power crisis.

Shaikh said Sindh had ample natural resources whose maximum utilisation could go a long way to ensure provision of uninterrupted and inexpensive power to the people of the entire country.

He remarked that previous rulers had been informed about the importance of energy resources available in the province but they did not pay heed to that owing to their anti-Sindh stance.

He said the previous regime of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf did not help the province set up new renewable energy plants that could have produced clean electricity utilising wind and solar power. He said the Sindh government would make sure that these clean energy plants were set up in the province as early as possible with the support of the federal government.