NEPRA takes notice of Karachi's power woes, advises KE to protect human lives, fix system
August 12, 2019
KARACHI: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Monday took notice of the power woes in Pakistan's southern port city and advised the metropolis' sole power supplier, K-Electric, to protect human lives and immediately fix its electric network.
Over the past two days, the KE's negligence, incompetence, and shoddy planning led to at least 10 deaths by electrocution, with many sacrificial animals dying of electrical shocks while being tied to utility poles during the torrential rain and urban flooding.
The death toll from rain-related incidents rose by Sunday evening to 12 after three motorcyclists were electrocuted to death on Khayaban-e-Shahbaz in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA).
Further, numerous areas, as of reporting time, did not have electricity, with power outages going on for 12 to 18 hours.
Citizens said were annoyed that neither is the KE's customer assistance team was listening to their complaints nor making any effort to resume power supply.
In this regard, the NEPRA advised the KE to immediately resolve customers' problems and ensure power supply was resumed. A spokesperson for the power supplier had said Sunday the main challenge in working to resume the power supply was due to the flooding in the grid stations and installation areas.
The KE had also announced on Sunday that some areas would not receive power even on the Eid-ul-Azha days. It had also temporarily suspended power to some areas that were in a state of urban flooding, the spokesperson had said, citing public safety.
Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had said intermittent showers would continue for at least a couple of days. It had issued a warning on Saturday of major urban flooding, saying the spell would continue for the next 36 to 42 hours.
The uninterrupted downpour — recorded at almost 200 millimetres (mm) — that started Saturday morning created a critical situation in Karachi. Various areas were hit with severe, hours-long power outages as heavy rain continued in the metropolis and other parts of Sindh.
A large number of locales in Karachi experienced a sudden blackout as a major power outage hit the city at the first drop of rain Saturday night.
