No legal obligation to provide electricity to Karachi: Khawaja Asif

• Minister says new agreement with K-Electric will be signed after taking input from parliament
• Federal govt asks K-Electric to address deteriorating performance

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif told lawmakers in the National Assembly on Thursday that the federal government does not have any legal obligation to provide electricity to K-Electric.

Asif said the agreement with K-Electric has expired and will be renewed.

“The new agreement will be brought to parliament’s Water and Power Standing Committee and we will ask this House for guidance and then a new agreement with K-Electric will be signed,” Asif said.

“Right now we have no legal obligation to give them [K-Electric] electricity but we do give it to them, 650 megawatts of it,” the minister said. “Because it is our responsibility as federal government to not lead to an increase in the problems of the people of Karachi.”

Asif further said that according to his information, K-Electric has a plant which is closed because it is being transferred from oil to coal. “But they do have 700-800MW ideal capacity of electricity. If they work that plant they will have more electricity but they don’t use that plant,” he said. “They take 650MW from us, if they use their own plant we can give that 650MW to the rest of the country.”

While talking further about the electricity issue, the minister said that he contacted NEPRA on Wednesday. “I told them that as a regulator they should have taken notice of the issue in Karachi.” He further added that in 2005, K-Electric (then KESC) was first sold to a Saudi group and then in 2008 there were illegal changes made in the entire agreement after which the company was given to a new owner. “The changes in that are illegal in my point of view,” he said. “If the House wants, we can scrutinise the 2005 agreement and 2008 both.”

GOVT TELLS K-ELECTRIC TO PUT ACT TOGETHER:

Meanwhile, in a letter to K-Electric on Thursday, the Ministry of Water and Power asked Karachi’s power-generation company to effectively address the current situation allegedly arising out of its (K-Electric’s) violation of performance standards and licensing conditions.

The letter referred to media reports and recent debates in the National Assembly on Karachi’s power woes, pointing out that since K-Electric was licensed under National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), it was mandatory for the regulatory authority to closely monitor the company to ensure compliance with licensing terms and relevant regulations.

The letter said: “In particular, your attention is also invited to the fact that reports of frequent tripping and analysis show that there has not been sufficient investment in improvement of distribution system by K-Electric, which should have been improved by appropriate investment and full utilisation of the generation capacity available with K-Electric”.

The letter said the ministry had on several occasion written to K-Electric about its non-compliance of various laws, particular regarding performance standards.

“We would strongly urge the regulator (NEPRA) to conduct an in-depth audit and inquiry/investigation to ensure that issues arising out of any non-compliance are effectively addressed and the licensee is held duly accountable”, the letter said.