The vice-president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and industry (FPCCI), Engineer M.A. Jabbar, in a statement the other day has rightly deplored the erratic performance of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and consequent unending addition to the agonies of the consumers in the largest city of the country.
He has emphasised that the government should expeditiously implement its plans for the privatisation of the KESC, for then alone the desired change for the better in the performance of this utility organisation can be expected.
He suggested that the government should stop further feeding the KESC with dozes of taxpayers' money in the form of subsidies and coverage of heavy loan dues, in order to discourage the corporation's habit of spoon feeding without showing any improvement.There can be no two opinions that the rampant inefficiency of the KESC has thrown the entire city into a state of trial and tribulations as a permanent feature of the daily life of the consumers at large.
The long spells of electricity breakdowns have become a normal event to put up with during the last five years without any hope of relief in the near future.
Recently the KESC further added to the miseries of the people by disconnecting power supply to Karachi Water Board with the result that water supply to millions of people was abruptly severed.
This was indeed the last straw on the camel's back. The FPCCI vice-president may be right in his view that the federal government should no more extend financial doles to the KESC, but such action can hardly prove to be an answer to the problems faced by the people of Karachi as a direct consequence of the utility's poor performance.
A much tighter monitoring of the affairs of the KESC would have to be undertaken by both NEPRA and the federal ministry of water and power to ensure that faults in the management of the KESC could be remedied effectively.
The line losses, including theft, continue to be very high at about 40 percent although the federal ministry of power had prescribed drastic reductions in these line losses last year. The KESC is stated to be facing a shortfall of 550 megawatts as compared to the rising demand for power supply in the city. A part of this shortfall is made up by WAPDA to the extent of 400 megawatts.
There can be no doubt that if the line losses are brought down by 50 percent from the existing level, the shortfall in the power generation faced by the KESC may be levelled off to a great extent.
The FPCCI vice-president has also suggested that the dispute between the KESC and large consumers should be arbitrated by the electrical inspectors of the Sindh government instead of allowing the KESC to act as prosecutor, adjudicator land arbitrator at the same time.
The provincial government's role therefore should be activated with a view to satisfying the industrial consumers in particular. He has also made a legitimate demand that the KESC should follow WAPDA in adopting only one meter in all the industrial zones for recovery of power charges.
At present the KESC is maintaining two meters for each industrial unit to charge two different rates, one for power used in industrial production and the other for commercial consumption covering lighting of the offices of industrial units. As a result the average cost of electricity is substantially inflated which in turn adversely affects the cost of production.
It is well known that the cost of production in Pakistan's industrial sector is considerably higher than that in the neighbouring countries and the main cause of this malady is the inflated power charges in Pakistan.
The need to make Pakistani products attractively competitive in the international market can hardly be overlooked and therefore the problem needs to be addressed on priority basis. In this connection, the FPCCI vice-president justifiably suggested measures for maximum supplies of natural gas to industrial units in order to feed their power generation plants, this would considerably reduce their cost as compared with the fuel-based power generation.
It has also been emphasised that private investors can contribute significantly to overcome the severe power shortage in Karachi by establishing power generation units of 50 megawatts each, which does not require permission from the federal government under the existing policy, and the provincial governments are vested with the authority to sanction such units to reduce the gap between demand and supply.