Karachi 11th February, 2014: K-Electric, formerly KESC has released a press statement in which the company has yet again clarified, that bank charges are legal and as per NEPRA’s order issued in 2010. KE categorically denied some media reports and spokesman KE (K-Electric) said that it was NEPRA who had made an order in its Determination after proper hearing in 2010, through which KE was legally allowed to collect bank charges in its monthly bills from consumers.
The press statement said that other DISCOS in the country are also charging bank charges which are hidden in their respective tariffs. KE is the only entity that shows bank charges separately on its monthly bill and hence KE’s conduct in openly disclosing the same in monthly bills for a number of years is lawful and beyond criticism.
The press statement categorically stated that NEPRA had approved Bank Charges back in 2010 after all proper deliberations, and these charges ‘are not’ part of KE tariff and therefore recovered separately. However, NEPRA has issued an impugned interim order dated February 6, 2014 to stop Bank Charges whereas the order was issued without giving KE any opportunity of being heard, which is against NEPRA’s own rules and regulations and its settled procedure. This interim order is also contrary to NEPRA’s own determination of 2010 under which KE was allowed to charge Rs 8 from consumers in each monthly bill. KE clarified that it had already sent a letter to NEPRA requesting them to set aside their interim order dated February 6, 2014 as the same was illegal, without jurisdiction and in excess of powers conferred on NEPRA under its parent statute, the NEPRA Act, 1997.