October 29, 2006	Sunday	Shawwal 5, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 28: The trade and industry have blamed Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) for over-charging on the material made available by the utility from its own resources and used in installations because there is no transparent system, which could verify its quality or price with the prevalent market rates.

Prior to privatisation of the KESC an applicant or customer under the self-financing policy was asked to purchase all the material needed for getting power connection and the utility company was only responsible for the supervision of the work.

This gave the customers a choice to purchase the required material from the open market at a competitive price and also ensure its quality as per the KESC’s specifications.

However, after the privatisation the power utility company changed its policy overnight and took the responsibility of making available all the materials required for providing any power connection, which may also include fixing of poles and laying of cables.

As a result of this changed policy many business and industrial establishments have raised objection because the system lacked transparency and the customers feel that they are been `fleeced’ by the utility company as they could not verify the price as well as the quality of the material used by the KSEC.

Another allegation being levelled by industrial, commercial and residential consumers against the power utility is about exorbitant charges being taken against all the materials supplied by the KESC. It is a general practice that huge amount are demanded and details of pricing of each item, going to be used for a particular project or purpose, are not given.

“In this era of computerisation and automation the KSEC is still processing such important documents manually where millions of rupees are involved,” industry sources said. “These demand notes are generally hand-written, which give the staff members a lot of room to alter and make any changes as per their will and need,” alleged Chairman Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association(PBEA) Shabir Ahmed.

Above all, he said there were no details about quality and pricing of material going to be used except an `X’ amount with some names of material mentioned in such demand notes.

All this leaves a customer guessing about as to why he is paying such a huge amount and what he would be getting against the payment, he added.

Shabir Ahmed, citing an example, said that there was a need to shift HT cables and two poles from an industrial plot in Landhi industrial area. The KESC authorities made a demand note of over Rs1 million for such a small job and even did not give any details about the quality and prices of the material to be used by the utility company.

But the question is that when only shifting of HT cables and poles was needed then why the KESC is charging such a huge amount where no material was going to be used.

He apprehended that if the government gave a free hand to the KESC to fleece the consumers this will have negative impact on the industrialisation in the country and will result in unemployment, which could not be afforded by any society or country.

Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) Masood Naqi told Dawn that many members were approaching the association regarding exorbitant charges being extorted by the KESC for installation and for giving new power connections.

He said that the most startling fact of this was that the utility company had not adopted a transparent method to satisfy consumers with regard to the demand notes being issued asking huge amounts for a power connection.

Former chairman Aptma Mushtaq Vohra said that it was unfortunate that in the past the industry faced a public monopoly but now it is a private sector monopoly but “we still hope that some sound working will emerge.

He said that how can one expect that a monopoly company--it may be in private or public sector--could improve and become efficient to meet the needs of the customers.

Mr Vohra suggested that prior to privatisation the government should have separated major functions such as generation, transmission and distribution of power and each should have been handed over to different companies and parties.

However, a spokesman of the KSEC told Dawn that the change in the policy had been made on a well thought-out plan and after finding some major flaws in the previous policy of self-financing.

He said that the major problem, which was being confronted by the KESC in asking the consumer to arrange for material, was with regard to quality and this compelled the utility company to alter the policy and take the responsibility of providing material on its shoulders.

Responding to a question the spokesman said that the material was provided at market rates but some nominal charges were added on account of storage and procurement. However, he was unable to answer allegations about the quality and standard of the materials being supplied by the KESC.

Under the self-financing policy the KSEC was only responsible for the supervision of installation and providing power connection but under new arrangements it has to supply material required for any particular job for industrial, commercial or residential power connection.