Karachi, January 30, 2023 (PPI-OT):Chairman National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Tauseef Hassan Farooqi has
urged K-Electric (KE) to resolve all electricity-related issues being faced by members of the business community on top priority as they were not only well-paying customers but are also those who play the role of an army battling for Pakistan’s economic survival in the ongoing extremely challenging environment.
“Our presence today at KCCI is a clear admission that the electricity-related issues being faced by the business community need to be taken care of on top priority and I guarantee that all your issues will be resolved by KE”, added Chairman NEPRA, who was accompanied by Chief Executive Office KE Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi at a meeting during their visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
Chairman Businessmen Group Zubair Motiwala, Vice Chairman BMG Jawed Bilwani, President KCCI Mohammed Tariq Yousuf, Senior Vice President KCCI Touseef Ahmed, Vice President Haris Agar, President Site Association of Industry Riazuddin and KCCI Managing Committee Members were also present at the meeting.
Chairman NEPRA pointed out that Pakistan’s power sector was currently going through worst situation as despite having installed production capacity, the country was unable to produce electricity as no funds were available to buy imported fuel including furnace oil and coal for electricity production.
He was of the view that the overall fuel prices have risen by at least eight times in the international markets whereas PKR has also depreciated to more than half against dollar which means the overall impact on electricity tariff should have been 16 times higher as 65 percent of the country’s electricity was being produced from imported fuel but NEPRA has not raised tariffs accordingly which deserves to be appreciated. “Efforts are being made to generate cheaper electricity but the induction of green energy is a challenge.”
Referring the concerns expressed by Chairman BMG over massive blackout across the country, Chairman
NEPRA informed that NEPRA carries out investigations to find out the causes whenever such blackouts
happen. The regulator was empowered to penalize only and they have done it in the past when the biggest blackout occurred on 9th January 2021 and 16 companies including KE were, subsequently, penalized for their failure to timely restore power supply.
He was of the view that KE has done a fantastic job by bringing the transmission and distribution losses to 15.5 percent from 40 percent but NEPRA wants T and D losses to be brought down to single digit. KE’s power generation, which was the most expensive in the entire power sector, must also be brought down by focusing on renewable energy. “KE came up with a renewable energy plan 2024 but we want it to happen earlier, so they’ll soon be resubmitting their plan for 2023.”
Commenting on concerns expressed over delays in installation of net metering facility for solar set up, Chairman NEPRA assured to add a section in NEPRA’s Customer Service Manual (CSM) wherein all the DISCOs including KE will be bound to install net metering facility within three months. “NEPRA deserves to be appreciated as despite strong opposition from everywhere, the regulator has allowed net metering.” In response to a query regarding disconnection and reconnection of electricity supply, Chief Executive KE Moonis Alvi said that a team of KE’s distribution network will be made available at KCCI to resolve all such issues being faced by the members of business and industrial community.
Moonis Alvi admitted that customers might be facing delays of more than three months in getting net metering billing mechanism installed which was due to rapid growth in solarization and limited quantity of required meters but this issue has been resolved and the net metering facility can now be installed within two to three months. “It has been observed that even when everything is ready from KE’s side, the process gets delayed due to other technical issues including improper earthing at the premises”, he said, adding that KE was performing best as compared to all other DISCOs as the highest number of net metering applications have been processed by KE.
Chairman Businessmen Group Zubair Motiwala, while referring to the recent blackout suffered by the country, stated that this was the fourth time since last three years when the country suffered massive blackout but the question arises whether anyone was held accountable or whether the causes were evaluated or not for this disaster suffered three time in the past and again recently. “It is really unfortunate that despite having back up, it took more than 28 hours for KE to restore electricity supply to industries in Site and many other areas”, he said, adding that KE’s black start facility should always be ready to provide electricity to consumer in case of power supply disrupts from the national grid.
He said that the business and industrial community was currently going through dire circumstances and they were not in a position to bear the burden of fixed charges which was the basic reason why they were intending to apply for load reduction but the KE cautions that if they come back again for load enhancement, it will be reinstated only when they clear the entire backlog of fixed charges since they applied for load reduction. “Who is going to get the load reduced when the burden of fixed charges will be borne in future”, he asked and requested the NEPRA Chairman to look into this issue.
He was of the opinion that KE’s monopoly has to be brought to an end and competition must trigger in
Karachi’s power generation, transmission and distribution network which would give consumers the freedom to choose the best and the affordable one in addition to improving the quality of electricity. “Electricity fluctuations from time to time for even micro seconds cause severe production losses and damages to machineries, hence, NEPRA should issue strict directives for improving the quality of electricity”, he added.
Expressing deep concerns over non-issuance of LCs and stuck-up imported consignments of solar panels,
switch gears and inverters at the ports, he requested Chairman NEPRA to take up this matter by writing
letter to the State Bank of Pakistan so that solar equipment could be released at the earliest from the ports. “We need to encourage solar energy production which is in national interest as it would help in bringing down the circular debt.”
President KCCI Tariq Yousuf, in his remarks, stressed that the peak hour tariffs should only be applicable on domestic consumers whereas the industries must be exempted from peak hour as uninterrupted production at the industries was the only way forward to pull the country out of economic crises.
For more information, contact:
Director Press/Electronic Media and Public Relations
Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)
Aiwan-e-Tijarat Road, Off Shahrah-e-Liaquat,
Karachi-74000
Phone: +92-21-99218001-09
Fax: +92-21-99218040
Email: info@kcci.com.pk, secretary@kcci.com.pk
Website: www.kcci.com.pk