RECENTLY, power supply went off in my area in the morning as it happens frequently these days. We waited for the next three hours before making a call to the customer care helpline of K-Electric (KE). One of the representatives picked my call and in a decent, courteous manner asked about the issue, and had me confirm my KE account number, address (D-606, Shamail Garden, Block 19 Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Karachi) and requested me to wait for a while. I was expecting the usual reply citing some ‘technical’ issue, but the KE representative’s reply took me by surprise. The supply had been deli-berately turned off due to collective non-payment by area residents.

Regardless of whatever argument I could put forth, the KE representative remained polite but firm in the belief that I was part of the problem even if I had been paying my bills regularly. I was advised to visit the KE corporate office in Gulistan-i-Jauhar if I wanted to pursue the matter further.

I went there with a few others, and there was a bigger surprise awaiting us at the corporate office. We waited for about an hour before we were given an audience by the relevant official. All he did was to give us a list of defaulters with their respective dues. The gentleman behaved as if we were KE’s recovery staff and were not doing our ‘duty’ properly. Make the defaulters pay the dues, or electricity would not be restored. This is what he told us.

Now, forget everything else, just answer a simple question; are we, the consumers, supposed to go door to door to facilitate the recovery process of KE? It is deliberately cutting off supplies to entire areas, which is an illegality. Now it wants us to make recoveries as well.

This is the curse of monopolistic hold on market at its worst. Will the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) have a look into the matter? Please!

Ikhlaq Ur Rehman
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2023