KARACHI, Nov 27: Delay in delivery of electricity bills, intermittent power failures and voltage fluctuation in various localities have forced citizens to view this as an artificial crisis being created allegedly by the army-managed Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and its employees.

Consumers of the utility service in various localities, including parts of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, North Nazimabad, PECHS, etc., have not yet received their monthly bills and some other consumers did receive the bills but after the due date had lapsed.

Citizens expressed surprise over the delay in the delivery of power bills and said that it did not happen on a large scale. They said it was for the first time that a whole locality was not delivered power bills.

They said that the objective was nothing but to upset consumers over the KESC’s poor performance. The people had already been fed up with daily power failures despite the tall claims by the military-run KESC that they had improved it a lot. According to the KESC, the leakages still stood at more than 40 per cent and all the leakages were being charged from those who were the legal consumers, they added.

Besides, the people complained about voltage fluctuation and power failures that occurred daily. They said that the KESC officials had been creating an artificial crisis so that it could not be privatized. They cited the example of the employees of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) who, they said, had gone on a strike to pressurize the government not to privatize the company.

The people said that the first bidder had backed out due to bad management of the KESC. Now a second bidder had deposited the seed amount of $100 million recently and the handing over of the KESC was likely to take place soon. The employees and the KESC management did not want the utility service to be privatized. The delay in delivery of power bills and power failures were part of the campaign of the KESC management and employees to give the impression to the bidder that the purchase of the utility service was of no benefit.

However, a KESC spokesman denied any linkage of power failures and delay in delivery of bills to the privatization of the utility service. He said that all matters had already been decided and the handing over of the KESC would take place on December 1. He said that the Board of Directors of the KESC would be replaced by the new buyer and the existing officers in the KESC would gradually be phased out.

The power failures had nothing to do with the privatization process, he reiterated, and said that he was not aware of the delay in the delivery of power bills on a large scale. He said that individual bills could be delayed and those who did not receive their bills should contact their area KESC office or go to the Awami Markaz to get a copy of their bills.

About power failures, he said there was no major power breakdown for the past one month. Power cables were stolen in Gadap, and the power disruption took place until the cables were repaired but it happened occasionally. However, the KESC had been carrying out shutdowns for improvement work and the process would continue till July 2007.

He said that shutdown notices appeared in dailies to inform people about suspension in power supply in advance. The scheduled power shutdowns should not be mingled with power failure complaints, he added.