The Helpline Trust has appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court to take appropriate action against Karachi Electric as per NEPRA Act of 1997 and Electricity Act of 1910, and their subsequent rules and regulations, for the illegal power outages, euphemistically referred to as Load Management, which KE is subjecting its subscribers to.
In a press release, the Helpline Trust says that the residents of Karachi are suffering intolerable hardships due to the continuous daily power outages/load management being undertaken by Karachi Electric. In some area it is being perpetuated for 6-8 hours daily, which becomes an agonizing ordeal for the beleaguered citizens in this unbearable heat of 40+° C. It is nothing short of a criminal act from a utility agency which is supposed to provide respite to the citizens.
As per “NEPRA Performance Standards (Distribution) Rules 2005” & “NEPRA Performance Standards (Transmission) Rules 2005”, only a fixed number of 16 planned and 60 unplanned outages are allowed per consumer per annum. Any outages beyond these standards by a power distributions company entails the imposition of a penalty by NEPRA on that power distribution company for each of its consumers.
The KE explanation of power outages being due to a lack of furnace oils totally unacceptable, as being a monopolistic utility service provider of power, it is their legal duty and constitutional obligation to provide the residents of Karachi uninterrupted power supply. These outages are also causing huge loss to economy in addition to human misery.
Helpline Trust has also appealed to NEPRA to take action against K. Electric as per the Act of 1997 and the Performance Standards of 2005.
