KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday was informed by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority that K-Electric would have no option in 2016 but to carry out loadshedding as only 350 megawatts had been added to its supply capacity instead of 1,000MW.

Headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, a two-judge bench was hearing a set of constitutional petitions against the unprecedented loss of life caused by the 2015 heatwave coupled with power cuts.

In its comments, Nepra disputed the KE claim of having added 1,037MW to its system and stated that only 350MW was effectively added after decommissioning and permanent closure of certain plants.

The court was informed that the power utility was able to maintain its system in the garb of a loadshedding policy.

Nepra said that peak demand of electricity increased to more than 3,000MW during the crisis in June 2015, while the KE supplied around 2,475MW from all sources, including 650MW from the NTDC, and the gap between supply and demand was met by the KE through loadshedding.

“KE peak demand is expected to be close to 3,000MW in 2016, therefore, there is no option with the KE except to carry out loadshedding. It is also to be noted that the KE has claimed that the situation in June 2015 was unprecedented. However, there is no guarantee that such a situation will not happen again,” Nepra said.

It said the power company had no policy to end its dependence on import from the NTDC in the near future.

Nepra in its comments said the KE on the one hand argued that the consumers would be burdened by operating its power plants, while, on the other hand, it added to their burden by not building new and efficient power plants as instead of 1,000MW only 350MW was added to its system.

The comments said: “Had the KE added these power plants, its consumers would have been burdened to the extent of fuel cost only. On the contrary, the KE is violating the spirit of Muli Year Tariff by looking to power purchases from external sources and lease out options and is proposing to pass on the total cost to the consumers”.

The bench directed additional advocate general Mustafa Mahesar to file comments on behalf of the provincial government, and put off the hearing to a date to be later fixed by the court’s office.

The petitions over the deaths caused by the heatwave were filed by civil rights campaigner Rana Faizul Hasan, singer Shahzad Roy, Karamat Ali, Nazim Fida Hussain Haji and others.

They impleaded the secretaries of water and power, aviation division, climate change, national disaster management authority, Pakistan meteorological department, national electric power regularity authority, Sindh chief secretary, provincial secretaries of local government and health, city commissioner and K-Electric as respondents.

The petitioners said over 1,000 people lost their lives and over 40,000 people were affected by the heatwave in Karachi and other parts of the province.

They sought enforcement of the fundamental rights and the law for the victims, the survivors and their families.

The petitioner asked the court to declare that the victims and their families and the heatstroke patients were entitled, as a fundamental right under the Constitution, to demand an appropriate compensation from the provincial and federal governments as well as from the power utility.

They also asked for the constitution of a judicial commission, headed by a retired judge of the high court or the Supreme Court and comprising relevant and respected civil society persons.

The petitioners further requested the court to determine the quantum of compensation for the victims and their families and those affected by the heatwave tragedy and to determine the shares of the provincial and federal governments as well as the power utility for the payment of such compensations.

Rana Faizul Hasan, a civil rights campaigner and secretary general of the United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, was the first to petition the SHC seeking action against the official and power utility authorities.

Then Advocate Moulvi Iqbal Haider, a lawyer involved in public interest litigation, moved the SHC. He asked the court to cancel the privatisation of K-Electric for its failure to supply uninterrupted power to the people.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2016