Summertime Sadness: Karachi’s oldest love affair with KE

They said privatisation will help resolve the issues. Privatisation happened but, nothing changed. Like most state owned institutions and their failure post privatisation, K-Electric (KE) has also miserably led down the citizens of Karachi with the never ending load-shedding and power breakdowns that come as an unpleasant guest during summers.

The irony of the whole situation is that no one wants to take responsibility of the continuous suffering of the people of Karachi.

On July 10, KE Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Moonis Alvi said that the city faces never ending power shortage due to lack of furnace oil and gas, during a public hearing held by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), completely denying any of it was the institutions fault.

On July 9, Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the power crisis the city of lights has been suffering from and advised the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) to supply an additional 40mmcfd gas to KE. According to a contract between the SSGC and KE, the former already provides the latter with an additional 100mmcfd of gas.

Nothing comes without repercussions to the citizens of the metropolis. CNG stations across Sindh are supposed to remain closed for 48-hours with no gas supply in the region as the SSGC follows the instructions of the PM.

Currently, Karachi enjoys 730MW of the power utility it gets from the national grid. According to Alvi, the system might falter if it is forced to power more than that. Being the business hub, Karachi suffers both financially and economically as a result of the increasing power outbreak.

The question, however, remains will the city of light ever revert back to its glory and live up to the title that it was once given?

*This is a guest post contributed by:- Haddiqua Siddiqui, MS Journalism.