KARACHI – The Sindh government has requested the centre for representation in the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) Board of Directors (BoD) to ensure better service for the consumers and protection of their rights, Sindh Electric Power Minister Shazia Marri said on Thursday.
While talking to a group of media personnel and various delegations visiting her office regarding their problems, Marri said that the Electric Inspectorate working under the Power Department is being revamped and reorganised to ensure speedy justice to electricity consumers with regard to their complaints of excessive billing, detection charges, etc.
She said that she had recently attended a meeting of a Council of Common Interests subcommittee in Islamabad regarding finalisation of various amendments in the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) rules, in which she had raised the issue that the Sindh government has no representation in the KESC, whereas the Centre has three members in the KESC BoD.
The federal government has been requested for representation in the KESC BoD and other power companies, enabling the provincial government to protect the rights of its citizens, she added. “In the same meeting, representatives of the other three provinces supported my suggestions for NEPRA’s draft amendment proposal regarding increase in penalty charges on electricity supplying private companies from Rs 300,000 to Rs 100 million with the condition that all amount recovered through penalties should go to the provincial consolidated fund, so that people could benefit from it,” she said.
She disclosed that the Electric Inspectorate is in place to address the complaints of power consumers, but the system is neither active nor the majority of consumers are aware of such a forum. However, she added, the Electric Inspectorate is being revamped and reorganised with the aim to extend maximum possible relief to power consumers.
She appealed to the media to inform the people that they can file their complaints with the electric inspectors – two working in Karachi and one each in Hyderabad and Sukkur. Responding to a question, she revealed that after the 18th Amendment, the Sindh government has yet to receive possession from the Centre of four dormant gas fields – two situated in Thatta district and one each in Sanghar and Ghotki districts.
She said that she has been given a special assignment to finalise the issue with the authorities concerned. She added that since the provincial government lacks financial resources; therefore, it has been decided to develop these four gas fields through public-private partnership, enabling the government to transfer the benefits of these national resources to the local people as well as to the people of the province.
She assured that the people of the province would be soon hearing some good news in this regard.
