Islamabad: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), K-Electric, and Minister for Energy (Power Division) were not present for the meeting, which caused the Senate standing committee on power to express its extreme disappointment.
Under the leadership of Senator Saifullah Abro, the Senate committee convened on Monday to review various K-Electric-related concerns. These included the company’s founding, the entire privatization process for K-Electric, including the tendering process, ownership, and past accomplishments, the development sector plan, and projects, including their tendering processes and investments made.
Full details of correspondence with the power division regarding the installation of new power plants and the implementation status of the nine recommendations made by the committee in its previous report.
The committee voiced its concern about Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi, CEO of K-Electric, not participating in the meeting right away.
The CEO was told to attend and brief the committee at the prior meeting, according to the chairman. He said that he would utilize the police to call him if “such abuse happens,” promising that it wouldn’t continue.
However, after the general agreement of those in attendance, the Senate panel submitted a letter to the Chairman Senate asking him to summon the CEO.
Additionally, the panel agreed voted to oppose him on a privilege motion.
The Federal Minister for Energy’s absence has drawn more attention. The committee immediately sent a letter to the chairman of the Senate expressing concern about the minister’s absence and its opinion that his continuous absence in spite of numerous calls compromised its privilege.
The CEO was represented by K-Electric’s chief of marketing and communications officer, Sadia Dada, who repeatedly stated that she was prepared to respond to all inquiries. However, the committee felt that a member of marketing was unable to to provide a briefing on the company’s development plans and investments from 2006 to the present.
The chairman also claimed that the energy industry is in confusion as a result of sub standard work and incompetent employees.
He repeated his inquiries regarding the 28,000 tubewells managed by QESCO and the 1,434 agricultural tubewells in Lasbela as well as the letters sent to the FIA and NAB and the findings of their inquiry.
The K-Electric contract’s specifics and the circular debt, which has not yet been settled, were among the other concerns expressed by the committee. According to Senator Fida Muhammad, K-agreement Electric’s with the national grid expired in 2015, and eight years had passed with no renewal.
In the beginning, the committee members stopped K-Electric from providing a briefing when the CEO of the company was not there.
The chief marketing officer, however, was given an opportunity to speak and was asked about K-Electric’s investment of Rs. 475 billion in a number of projects by the committee’s chairman. The official, however, avoided the question.
The committee also requested an update on the issues facing Karachi’s energy users.
Dada gave the committee members an update on the investments made after privatization and mentioned that K-Electric continues to make investments even during the years when it suffered significant financial losses.
Dada encouraged the members to go and take their own surveys at the 1,400 agricultural tube-wells that are part of K-Electric’s service area and are being billed.
The committee also recommended that IESCO, LESCO, and PESCO execute the policy by the last week of January and directed the deployment of 20% engineers to all DISCOs.
The committee members also expressed their displeasure at MEPCO’s reluctance, and they gave the power division a week to approve the board of MEPCO’s quota’s implementation. The committee thought that for DISCOs to improve, all DISCOs needed to create a promotion policy for graduate engineers from LS-II to SDO.
Senator Syed Shibli Faraz requested an update on the implementation of star ratings in electric fans with the goal of producing products that are energy-efficient, and it was advised that the power division produce the report within two days.
