Leaders from trade unions and workers’ support organizations hav demanded that K-Electric should be brought under the control of the city government to ensure proper oversight by public representatives.
During a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC), labour leaders called on the federal and provincial governments to cease extensions in for costly and inefficient thermal power plants.
Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Unions Federation (NTUF), Abbas Haider of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Liaqat Sahi of the Democratic Workers Union of State Bank of Pakistan, Ms. Zehra Khan of Home-based Women Workers Federation and Ms. Zeenia Shaukat of The Knowledge Forum said Karachi, a city of workers, is facing severe problems due to the electricity crisis.
They highlighted the severe announced and unannounced load shedding in various city areas despite the recent intense heatwave. In poorer and middle-class neighbourhoods, load shedding lasts up to 14 to 16 hours, causing significant hardship for residents in Karachi, the country’s economic capital.
They said KE contributing to climate change in Pakistan by continuing to draw from environmentally damaging fossil fuels for its generation. KE imports close of half of the utility’s total energy demand from the national grid. On its own, it has added 2,132 MW of capacity in its system since privatization in 2005. More than 95% of those additions were based on plants running on costly fuels such as RFO, HSD, RLNG etc. It has added only 100 MW of solar PV in the IPP mode in its systems.
They pointed out that the rising electricity bills have become a major burden for the working class, with K-Electric imposing new taxes and charges monthly. K-Electric claims load shedding occurs in areas with high electricity theft or unpaid bills, but in reality, even those who regularly pay their bills suffer from severe power cuts. Those who fail to pay are not the ones facing the consequences; instead, it is the paying customers who are penalized.
K-Electric officials claim that Karachi residents owe 70 billion rupees, which the labor leaders denounced as baseless and false propaganda. K-Electric attempts to justify this claim with inaccurate data and bogus documents, but NEPRA has twice rejected these assertions.
The labour leaders noted that residential areas populated by workers, such as Orangi, Korangi, Paharganj, Shah Faisal, Allahwala Town, City Railway Colony, Malir, Gadap, Quaidabad, Keamari, and Lyari, experience more than 12 to 14 hours of load shedding. In middle-class areas like Nazimabad, FB Area, Shadman, Hyderi, Garden, Jamshed Quarters, New Karachi, Surjani, Patel Para, and Lines Area, load shedding durations exceed 14 hours, with the situation being even worse in Lyari.
This prolonged load shedding disrupts not only businesses but also the lives of workers and employees, who struggle to work effectively and sleep well at night. An estimated 50 to 60 per cent of Karachi’s population lives in informal settlements, where most labourers reside. The extended power outages cause mental stress among workers, negatively affecting their performance, making them irritable, and sometimes leading to psychological issues, further reducing their already low incomes.
Daily power breakdowns lead to protests, with affected residents blocking main roads, worsening law and order and disrupting traffic. Despite these protests, there is no forum where the public’s grievances are heard. There is no public oversight mechanism for K-Electric’s performance, allowing the company to operate without accountability.
When K-Electric was privatized, it was claimed that this would improve public convenience and company performance. However, the company has deteriorated further, becoming more focused on extorting money from the public rather than providing services. Instead of improving its power supply system, K-Electric has become a burden on citizens. Although the company promised to generate cheap, environmentally friendly, and renewable energy, it is now relying on coal, which poses serious environmental threats.
