Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has made an urgent SOS call to the federal and provincial governments for release of payments against government dues of Rs71 billion.
In a distressed message sent to the government, KESC has said that the power utility was facing a severe liquidity issue due to huge outstanding receivables from various federal and provincial entities. KESC was in desperate need of these funds to pay PSO and IPPs for furnace oil supply to keep in check the current load shedding schedule in the city.
It was feared that the duration of load shedding could go as high as 14 hours a day across the metropolis and parts of interior Sindh and Balochistan if immediate steps were not taken by the government. Considering the law and order situation in the city and the fast approaching general elections in the country, it was critical that the KESC would be able to run its generating plants and maintain the current load shedding schedule.
KESC had informed the government that the utility had so far been funding its fuel purchases through short term bank borrowings at its own expense, however, this would not be possible in the future as already the company had extended its allowable short term borrowing limit. To avoid this looming power crisis and associated socio-political repercussions, KESC had requested the federal government to immediately release at least Rs 25 billion of KESC’s receivables directly to PSO to ease the state-owned fuel supplier’s liquidity position and help ensure regular supply of furnace oil to KESC.
In addition, KESC had also requested the Government of Sindh to urgently release the first installment of its Rs 22 billion receivable directly to SSGC. The utility further resolved that as soon as SSGC increased the gas supply to last year’s level of 200 MMCFD, it would immediately exempt all seven industrial zones of the metropolis from power outages, in line with its more than three year old policy. In this regard, KESC expressed the hope that the government would play its role to end the 10 day long industrial load shedding of eight hours that was caused by inadequate gas supply to the power utility.
KESC on it knees as government delay payments
