ISLAMABAD: The prospects of transfer of shares of K-Electric (KE) to new buyers are reportedly unclear as the federal government has directed its legal team to maintain status quo in Sindh High Court (SHC).
Background interviews with circles aware of developments in the matter revealed that the legal team recently informed the government that they have succeeded in maintaining status quo in SHC as per the directions.
A committee comprising caretaker Minister for Power, caretaker Minister for Privatisation and caretaker Minister for Law and Justice was constituted on 9th October 2023 to assess specific interest of GoP in judicial proceedings regarding K-Electric shares which made the following recommendations: (i) to maintain status-quo in SHC;(ii) seek full disclosure of ownership through Securities and Exchange Commission (SECP) and others; and (iii) PC to seek legal opinion on requirements of National Security Certificate (NSC).
K-Electric loadshedding regime remains largely unchanged
The government recently approved four agreements which are yet to be inked between the GoP and K-Electric.
As a matter of routine, KE gets 1000 MW of electricity from the national grid to meet its requirements. However, the government has already enhanced it to 2000 MW on availability basis. KE’s transmission system comprises a total of 1,355 km of 220 kV, 132 kV and 66 kV transmission lines, 71 grid stations, 20 auto transformers and 175 power transformers as of June 2022.
The performance of power utility company which was privatized in 2005 is also under question as some segments including Jamaat-e-Islami and MQM-P are critical of its performance due to load shedding, disconnections and other factors. Former minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui wrote a letter to caretaker Finance minister and complained about the performance of K-Electric.
However, according to Nepra’s report the system duration of interruption witnessed zero hours which showed 100% reduction as compared to preceding year’s average of 0.06 hours (4 minutes). System frequency of interruption was observed at zero number of outages per circuit. It indicates a decrease of 100% over the previous year, i.e., 0.02.
In order to gauge system security, the estimates of total energy not served (ENS) during the reported period has been analyzed. The total ENS as reported by KE is zero. KE has reported 46 voltage violations under normal conditions that indicated 100% increase with respect to preceding year.
According to Nepra, performance of KE is better than Discos, but a rising number of residents of Karachi are angered at its performance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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