KARACHI: The provincial government on Friday sternly directed the electricity distribution companies, including K-Electric, to avoid at any cost load-shedding from 10pm to 6am daily during the ongoing sizzling weather.

A statement said that Energy Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani issued those directives while chairing a meeting at the provincial energy department.

The meeting was attended among others by Energy Secretary Musaddiq Ahmed Khan, and senior officials of K-Electric, Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco).

The ministers assured the participants of the meeting that the provincial government would soon pay the dues payable to the power distribution companies.

The meeting took into consideration the grave sufferings of the people due to frequent power cuts amid unbearable weather conditions.

The provincial ministers directed the three power distribution companies in the province not to observe load-shedding during nighttime and adopt a mechanism to avoid load-shedding from 10 pm to 6 am daily.

The energy minister asked the Sepco and Hesco to install MR metres at the public sector institutions so that electricity bills payable by them could be reconciled.

The local government minister said that the K-Electric shouldn’t punish all its consumers on account of power theft. He said the KE should give value to human lives whose survival was threatened in extreme weather.

He said that power load-shedding lasting up to 16 hours had caused unbearable suffering to the masses.

KE dues

Meanwhile, the KE in a statement said that the provincial government had liabilities of around Rs10.50 billion.

It added that there were problems in uninterrupted power supply due to non-payment of outstanding dues.

The KE requested the provincial government for immediate payment of dues, saying that 70 per cent of the power utility network was providing uninterrupted power to the city despite problems.

However, it said, free electricity supply was impossible.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2024