Karachi – 18th November, 2014: KE thanks its consumers for notifying the company of electricity theft worth Rs. 7.8 million in the month of October through the organization’s Speak Up campaign.
According to KE, a total of 678 thefts complaints were received in October and most of them have been resolved. A total of 644 complaints were registered to report kunda (hook) connections and 34 complaints were lodged for meter tampering from all the residential, commercial and industrial areas.
Following the reported complains, KE team took stringent actions against power theft by removing illegal hook connections from the kunda-infected areas such as Baldia Town, Bin Qasim, Gadap, Malir, Model Colony, Landhi, Bahadurabad, KIMZ, Korangi, Site, Shah Faisal, Orangi, Lyari and Jauhar.
With electricity theft being one of the major inhibitors impacting KE’s ability to provide uninterrupted supply of power to Karachiites, the utility company has been encouraging citizens to report such cases via its Speak Up campaign, which has been running since 2009.
In light of campaign, Spokesperson KE said, “Combating crime in an area as vast as Karachi is an exceptionally tough challenge. The idea behind our Speak Up campaign is simple – we want to collaborate with ordinary citizens in order to minimize theft, so that we can enhance the quality of our services to consumers. The response has been encouraging thus far – in October alone we received over 600 complaints, which helped us identify theft of Rs.7.8 million.”
KE spokesperson asserted that the more we incur losses due to theft and other illegal activities, the more it hampers our ability to provide reliable power supply to paying customers. The solution is simple – if our customers pay, we will be in a position to provide electricity to them. He also pointed out that 57% of Karachi was already exempted from load shed, as KE did not voluntarily disrupt supply to “low-loss areas”.
People witnessing those either using illegal kunda (hook) connections or tampering with their meters can file complaints with KE by calling 118 or emailing to speakup@ke.com.pk. The identity of the complainants is kept strictly confidential.