KARACHI: The Karachi Electric Supply Company will go for Thar coal in coming two to three years as the company gains some financial strength. “We are now getting investments in KESC from May 2009 with the signing of the final agreement,” the KESC chief executive officer Naveed Ismail said during his visit to the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) on Tuesday to meet industrialists. He informed that KESC is working on three coal power plants to reduce the dependence on furnace oil and gas. He emphasized that coal and hydropower are the only two cheap and reliable options available to Pakistan. He rebuffed the reports that coal in Sindh is not suitable for power generation. “Coal in Sindh is usable. Our future generation will never forgive us if we fail in utilizing Thar coal.” A large number of industrialists lauded the efforts of present management of KESC and their consistent improvement in power distribution; they said that for the first time in the history of KESC they are dealing with professional team. Ismail said that KESC has been criticised because what should have been delivered has not been delivered in last three years. “Though, we took charge 10 months back, only six weeks back in May 2009 we have taken over the company completely,” he said. Ismail said that load-shedding in industrial areas is less because, “we want our industry to run uninterruptedly and that people can retain their jobs. The other reasons are that there are less power thefts in industrial areas and we get better revenue also.” Kaukab Iqbal, Chairman, Consumers Association of Pakistan said that average billing is unjust for those who are now conserving energy with more power savers and paying electricity bills honestly. On replying a query about average billing, KESC chief said, “we are trying to reduce average billing from 15 per cent.” Revival of KESC is the revival of Karachi, he said adding, “I assure that every coming week and month will be better than previous one.” He informed that over 50 MW power consumption increases with the rise of single degree mercury in Karachi and power consumption is continuously rising in this summer which is 2300 MW per day till date. “We are certainly in problems as far as our debts and debtors’ are concerned. We have Rs36 billion on our customers, which also include many government departments, Ismail said. He asked industrialists for their support and said, “we are ready to settle our various issues out of courts in order to save time and energy.” On disconnection of illegal connections, he informed, “we are disconnecting some 55,000 to 60,000 illegal connections a day without taking any pressures from influentials.” Industrialists complained that KESC complaint centres don’t receive phone calls and if they do they generally don’t know where faults occur and how and when their team can restore the system. The CEO of KESC accepted the fact that their complaint centres need much more improvement. “We have raised complaint centre staff to 300 from just 25 employees when we took over the company however, still we need raise this figure to 500 for better results.” He lamented that KESC collect various government taxes with electricity bills which is the duty of FBR, and this also affect our customers’ as their monthly bill increase by 22 to 25 per cent owing to these taxes. When asked would he register FIR against the influential people who are caught in power thefts, he said, “Yes, now I am thinking about it. There are numerous big names that have been caught in electricity theft.” Mian Zahid Hussain, Chairman, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) said that the recovery of KESC from KATI is 97 per cent and there is no power theft in our industrial zone. Hussain added that though industrial areas are exempt from load-shedding but owing to the heavy load-shedding in residential areas our workers efficiency is being affected daily in industries. He asked KESC management to reduce line losses and power thefts as this burden is being drawn to the honest power consumers. “KESC team is media shy. KESC should also face media and convince them because KESC is working better now and they have enough relevant points to make before media,” he suggested.