NEPRA releases initial report on Karachi electricity crisis

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Monday released an initial report on the prevailing power crisis in Karachi and the performance of the city's electricity distribution firm K-Electric.

The report accuses K-Electric of neither paying any attention to distribution and transmission of electricity nor spending any money to improve the system.

The report, prepared by a four-member fact-finding committee formed by NEPRA on June 24, largely holds K-Electric's negligence responsible for the power crisis in the city.

According to the report, during the crisis K-Electric produced between 2500 to 2700 MW but the inefficient system suffered breakdowns and tripping.

The company has divided its feeders into two categories for loadshedding.

From 8:00AM to 6:00PM, 7.5hours of loadshedding was carried out on feeders with the most losses. These feeders provided electricity for only 2.5 hours during day time.

On other feeders with fewer losses, loadshedding was carried out for 6 hours during 8:00AM to 6:00PM.

The NEPRA report says that, apart from this announced loadshedding, the inefficient system tripped and often suffered breakdowns in several areas, which sometimes went without electricity for the entire day.

NEPRA said that the final report was in the process of being compiled and any legal action can only be taken after the final report is released.