Industrialists, KESC shareholders opposed to utility's plan to outsource business centres.

Byline: GHULAM ABBAS

Karachi Electric Supply Company's (KESC) plan to outsource 11 of its business centres located in different parts of the city is 'illegal and in violation' of rules set by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), industrialists and KESC's shareholders said.

Recently, KESC invited expressions of interest from interested parties to run these business centres. Through a detailed letter sent to Nepra, a group of people, including industrialists and shareholders of the company, have objected the company's move, saying that private groups/firms would hurt interests of millions of consumers through various tactics. This case, along with other issues related to KESC, was likely to be discussed in a public hearing scheduled to be held here on Monday and Tuesday.

The group of people including, Arif Bilwani, Dr Qazi Ahmed Kamal, Chaudhry Mazhar Ali and others, through the letter have presented the KESC's perspective in series and put their objections and arguments latter accordingly. According to the letter, which claimed presenting exact laws/sections and CSM references elaborating the perspective of Nepra Act through the Electricity Act 1910 regarding the recent planning of KESCL for franchising certain activities of its status as a licensee engaged in the distribution of electricity in the city of Karachi. KESCL's plan details includes the following details:

a) Invite expressions of interest (EoIs) to form strategic partnerships with interested parties across 11 of its business centres.

b) These alliances would be through distribution franchise agreements (DFAs) for 11 of KESC's business centres,

c) The KESC has a total of 28 business centres, of which 17 have Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses of around 20 percent with a loadshedding range of 0-3 hours. In the remaining 11 business centers, the AT&C losses are around 60 percent and hence being subjected to 4.5-7.5 hours of loadshedding.

d) For improving quality of power supply and reducing …