MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Water and Power on Thursday grilled the top brass of K-Electric on the current electricity crisis in Karachi due to which the federal government faced criticism from the provincial government and political parties, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has convened a meeting on Friday (today) to discuss power sector issues including K-Electric. Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power, headed by Senator Iqbal Zafar Jhagra is also holding a meeting today on K-Electric’s performance. The committee will discuss generating capacity of K-Electric and demand during the recent crisis and onward transmission to consumers.

According to sources, Minister for Water and Power, Khawja Asif delivered a very strong message to the K-Electric team at a meeting on Thursday held in the committee room of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, saying that the utility got “illegal concessions” during the PPP government due to which billions of rupees of financial loss was incurred by the federal government. Minister conveyed in plain words that the utility should forget a continuation of policies of the PPP tenure.

“You got undue favours during the PPP government and declined to comply with the federal government and the regulator. This attitude is no more acceptable to the federal government,” the sources quoted Water and Power Minister as stating to K-E management.

K-Electric team was apprised that the utility may have invested in generation but apparently there are no signs of investment in transmission and distribution systems, the sources added.

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has also alleged that the power utility’s management was not sharing complete data of investment in the system due to which the regulator was unable to reach any conclusion, the sources continued.

Nepra will brief the standing committee on the agreement between the K-Electric and government besides performance standards of K-Electric and violations, if any, on the part of K-Electric.

The sources said, K-Electric’s management also faced severe criticism from the Minister for Water and Power for allegedly defying the instructions of the Ministry and Nepra and their “unprofessional attitude”.

“We have directed the K-E management to bring a detailed investment plan next Wednesday (July 8) which should include the current status of distribution and transmission systems along with problems and the timeframe for system’s overhauling. If the government accepts the K-E’s plan then the expired Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) will be renegotiated otherwise supply of 650 MW electricity will be suspended,” the sources further added.

K-E management was told that the utility had not invested properly in accordance with the Implementation Agreement (IA) especially in the low income areas.

K-E management maintains that it has increased installed capacity by 1,037 MW since 2009 through completion of four major projects, recovery of 50 MW from the existing plants and an incremental 27 MW from conversion of Korangi plant to combined cycle. Currently 45 per cent the capacity is only 6 years old.

The utility further pointed out that loadshedding duration declined to 0.3 hours for customers representing 61 per cent based on the number of feeders. Primary objective of increasing generation has been achieved over the last 5 years transmission and distribution capex has been focused on infrastructure enhancement.

K-E also plans to undertake a transmission project which will potentially increase the capability of serving an additional 1,000 MVA through the EHT network post 2018 (which would imply almost 30 per cent increase in the existing capability).