Electricity-theft prime reason for loadshedding: K-Electric CEO

KARACHI: K-Electric CEO, Moonis Alvi, urged the Sindh government to revoke the license of the power distribution company and assume responsibility for providing electricity in the province, ARY News reported on Thursday.

During a Sindh Assembly Special Committee meeting, Moonis Alvi acknowledged that K-Electric carries out load shedding but clarified that the company does not set electricity rates.

He explained that load shedding occurs primarily in areas with high electricity theft, in line with findings from a joint committee with the government, emphasizing that in regions where theft is minimal, there is no load shedding.

He also highlighted that unpaid bills in specific areas lead to further outages, a topic previously discussed in the National Assembly.

Committee members, including Sadia Javed, Shabbir Qureshi, and Salim Baloch, expressed concerns over K-Electric’s operations.

Javed pointed out that K-Electric faces numerous complaints from the people of Karachi, while Qureshi criticized the company for justifying load shedding based on theft and questioned why consumers are penalized for the actions of others.

Baloch further criticized K-Electric’s inability to distinguish between bill payers and defaulters, suggesting that the company could not build a system to target non-payers without punishing compliant customers.

He also proposed exempting water pumps from load shedding to ensure a continuous water supply.