Islamabad: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Friday announced to start legal proceedings against K-Electric, after its probe found the power utility guilty for unannounced power outages in Karachi. This probe was conducted on the instructions of the Sindh High Court.
The power regulator’s investigation revealed problems in generation and distribution systems of K-Electric, which had to led unscheduled loadshedding in the city and exacerbated the problems of its citizens. Nepra had assigned a team last month which conducted a thorough check of 132 KVA grid stations, inspected their log and record books and conducted consumer surveys in this regard. The regulator said, “Based on the findings, a detailed report was filed by the team, wherein, the finding pertaining to longer power cuts other than scheduled load-shedding was prominent on which the authority while showing serious concerns, decided to initiate legal proceedings.”
Aside the supply being received from NTDC, K-Electric said its generation resources including its own power plants weren’t sufficient enough to meet its demands. K-Electric admitted that its own fleet of power plants including 6 units at Bin Qasim-1 were old and prone to fluctuation/tripping. Gas availability and pressure was also cited as a reason by Nepra for impacting K-Electric’s power generation and contribution. KGTPS and SGTPS (Korangi and Site gas turbine power stations) had been forced to operate at lower than available capacities due to low gas pressure, the power regulator disclosed.
The power regulator added that with the addition of 450MW of re-gasified liquefied natural gas into K-Electric’s power generation by 2018, situation is expected to improve. The report mentioned that the media had reported frequent power breakdowns and unscheduled loadshedding in Karachi during the holy month of Ramazan. As per the Nepra rules, it will take 2 months for the legal proceedings to be concluded which would include an explanation, written reply and a personal hearing for K-Electric.
