KARACHI: The public hearing called by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) at a local hotel here on Monday regarding fuel charges adjustment for the month of November, December 2013 and January 2014 for the K-Electric, formerly Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), had to be postponed after Nepra officials walked out accusing the public to be too ‘rowdy’.

The KE was asking for a decrease of 48.5 paise for November, for December, they asked for a 4.01 paise increase and for Jan an increase of 1.39 paisa was sought.

The KE finance director, Amir Ghaziani, explained that the decrease in Nov was due to a lesser demand for electricity at the time due to winter which resulted in their having to buy less furnace oil. In the following two months, there was a decrease in gas supply and a higher need for fuel mix which saw an increase in charges, he added.

But he was stopped by Nepra vice chairman Khawaja Mohammad Naeem, who inquired as to why the power utility carried out loadshedding in Nov when the demand for electricity had gone down anyway.

Replying to this, the KE official said that they carried out loadshedding in high loss areas to make up for their losses. In low loss areas there was hardly any loadshedding, he said.

But depriving innocent citizens who paid their bills of electricity on account of those who stole power through kundas didn’t go down well with the Nepra officials.

“You are only to take electricity from the National Transmission and Dispatch Company Ltd [NTDC] after exhausting your own generation capacity. As per the Power Purchase Ordinance, you can draw up to 650 megawatts, but it is wrong to borrow from NTDC when you are not generating yourself. It is like stealing from the public. What you have done is unlawful,” Khawaja Naeem said.

“It looks like here that the KE is not generating up to the capacity to save money,” he observed.

But the KE official clarified that they were not carrying out loadshedding across the city. “Fifty-six per cent of Karachi has zero loadshedding,” he added. “Loadshedding is only carried out in high-loss areas,” he said.

“No, this company was privatised to end losses and provide people with electricity. When you couldn’t improve your efficiency, you came up with loadshedding,” said Khawaja Naeem. “You are supposed to give 100pc electricity to the people and end power theft in the process. On account of your lack of efficiency you make decent people who pay their bills suffer,” he pointed out again.

“The innocent people of Karachi have nothing to do with your inefficiency,” he added.

When Nepra invited the public to provide their comments, the general Secretary of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) Shareholders Association, Choudhary Mazhar Ali, asked why Nepra was even listening to the KE people who did not listen to Nepra and kept defying it.

“And you, Nepra, is catching them on all accounts and still you fail to take action against them. You call a public hearing, but you have not given relief to any consumer,” he complained.

“Sir, you are not being fair,” Khawaja Naeem said. “We have pointed out where they are wrong. We also give them a chance to appeal and we review their requests and appeals. Frankly, you should be glad that Nepra is here for checks and balances,” he added.

At this another consumer, Anil Mumtaz, told the Nepra officials that it was their duty as public servants to serve the public rather than give the KE so much time. “Please don’t dictate. The KE has been stealing from us for over five years and you are protecting them and giving them chances again and again,” he screamed.

“They say they have five power generation plants, but one in them is not functioning well and one is just on paper. It simply just does not exist,” he added.

Auranzeb Elahi, another consumer, tried diverting the Nepra officials’ attention to the power utility imposing banking charges in spite of a Supreme Count’s suo motu case. “In spite of a clear verdict of the Supreme Court suo motu case 4/2006 in which banking charges are fixed between banks and the utility bills issuing authorities on whose behalf the banks collect fees, bills challans, we are being charged Rs8 as banking charges,” he said.

“You sum up two months charges this way, it comes to Rs35 million. Please be reasonable. This is not fair,” he added.

With too many people talking all at once, the Nepra officials, Khawaja Naeem and Habibullah Khilji, at first called for a 15-minute break requesting all to calm down as they hurriedly walked out of the hall. Later, the public were informed that they had decided to postpone the hearing because they believed the people had become ‘rowdy’. The public would be informed about the date for the next hearing through newspaper advertisements.