KARACHI: Following the federal cabinet’s approval of moratorium on gas supply to industrial units for self-generation of electricity, K-Electric (KE) “continues to remain fully committed to facilitating Karachi’s industrial customers in line with the Ministry of Energy’s (Power Division) direction to expedite fresh electricity connections and improve power supplies”.

This was stated by a spokesman for the power utility on Thursday.

He said that the KE was engaged with industrial associations and customers, through dedicated contact points to assess their needs and had collated ‘accurate’ power demands of the sector. “Based on this, a comprehensive roadmap has been developed to enable the shift of captive industrial electricity demand to the power grid in the swiftest way possible,” he added.

The spokesperson said that industries where KE metering points already existed would be prioritised for load-enhancement while concurrently the power utility would be establishing industrial helpdesks to ease new connection applications for those industries where electricity metering points were yet to be installed.

Reaffirming KE’s will and ability to serve the captive industrial demand, KE CEO Moonis Alvi stated, “Based on the survey conducted by our team with industry support, we have estimated that up to 300 megawatts energy demand can shift from captive to the power grid in the near-term and KE is fully prepared to progressively serve this demand.”

He added that in fact, the power utility had already begun to process the applications that it had been receiving over the past few days. “In addition, around 600MW of power demand is expected to shift to the power grid by December 31st, 2021, following completion of the New Connection process and requisite enhancement of power equipment. Based on requirements, the power utility will undertake grid, substation and associated equipment installations and augmentations as a pre-requisite for serving energy demand,” the CEO added.

He said that power utility would meet the Dec 2021 timeline set by the federal government and look forward to expeditious support for land and construction permits and right of way (RoW) approvals from city administration in this regard.

“It is important to highlight that the shift of captive power demand to the grid is a pivotal development and we request the support of all our stakeholders, including SSGC, GoP, CPPA and NTDC in the timely conclusion of on-going discussions around fuel commitments, power availability from the national grid and the connection of KE’s natural gas transmission pipeline for its 900MW BQPS-III power plant to the tie-in Point, SSGC Custody Transfer Station, as these underpin reliable supply of electricity and are critical to ensuring Karachi’s power security,” he added.

Mr Alvi said that since privatization, KE had invested over Rs330 billion in upgrading Karachi’s power infrastructure across the generation, transmission and distribution verticals. “Compared to 2005, over 75 per cent of Karachi is now load-shed free, underpinned by almost doubled transmission and distribution capability and generation capacity which has improved by around 1,400MW through both self-generation and power purchase agreements. With KE’s flagship 900 MW RLNG-fired power plant and new power grids expected to come on-stream in 2021 and work progressing swiftly on interconnection capability to draw up to 450MW additional power from the national grid through existing interconnections, the power utility remains committed to serving the enhanced industrial demand through expedited investments and infrastructure upgrades,” he added.

The power utility chief said that KE had always prioritised services to Karachi’s manufacturing sector, fully realising their vital contribution to the national economy; the power utility was Pakistan’s first distribution company to exempt industrial zones from scheduled loadshedding and KE’s efforts to ease access to energy under the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business framework, resulted in Pakistan being acknowledged as one of the world’s top six business climate improvers and moved up the country’s global rankings for investment friendliness.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2021