KARACHI: With reference to your
editorial “Fixing perverse incentives” (November 21), the Karachi Electric
Supply Corporation’s (KESC) policy of withholding power (or supplying it
sparingly) can work well in those localities where all (or most) consumers are
power thieves or defaulters. However, when only one person in a whole building
is a defaulter or steals electricity, and the honest ones cannot persuade him
to pay his bills or stop stealing, this policy is not justifiable.
In one such commercial-cum-residential building in Karachi’s DHA
area, the lone defaulter is an ex-policeman who is also a transport contractor.
Because of his dishonesty, all the other residents/office owners of the area
have to undergo many hours of load-shedding every day, even though they are not
defaulters or power thieves. How can the KESC justify this?
Shakir Lakhani
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd,
2013.
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