KARACHI - Member (Incharge He) Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman)’s Secretariat, Regional Office, Karachi, Amir Ahmed Shaikh of the Pakistan Police Service visited K-Electric’s Head Office.
Shaikh was greeted by K-Electric CEO Moonis Alvi and the company’s senior leadership including Chief Distribution and Marcoms Officer Sadia Dada and Chief Risk Officer and Company Secretary Rizwan Pesnani. Mr Shaikh also visited KE’s Mega Centre at the Tipu Sultan IBC to witness on-ground performance of the power utility.
At the outset, Mr Shaikh was given an overview of K-Electric’s performance turnaround since its privatization, efforts to become a more customer-centric company, and its digital transformation journey. He was also briefed that K-Electric services roughly 3.8 million customers spread beyond Karachi in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
Mr Shaikh directed the power utility to continue its path of performance turnaround so that it can stay as a model for other DISCOs. “KE needs to continue its path of empathy towards the customer. We receive complaints, but the company’s performance in addressing them and the compliance of it is 95%, which is quite impressive. Other DISCOs also make efforts, but KE stands out,” Mr Shaikh said as he visited the Mega Centre.
“I have also directed KE to continue its path. They have set the bar quite high already. But I believe in improvement and results. “For the customer, KE has centres that address complaints during the entire customer journey. Customers also have the federal ombudsman that addresses customers’ grievances. I urge all citizens to utilize these forums.”
KE CEO Moonis Alvi said the company also believes in remaining a customer-centric company. “We are glad that Member (Incharge) is seeing on-ground reality of how we operate. We are committed to implementing the ombudsman’s decisions. Moving forward, we will continue to make efforts to improve on this to create win-wins for the customer and our stakeholders.”
During his stint at the federal ombudsman secretariat, less than 13,800 complaints have been filed with compliance of nearly 95%, which is the highest when compared with all other DISCOs in Pakistan.
Mr Shaikh was also apprised that KE has doubled its customer base, and halved its transmission and distribution losses since privatization. He was also given first-hand knowledge of key challenges the company faced in terms of low recovery of electricity bills and theft in 30% of the company’s feeders network.
Mr Shaikh directed the company to guide the other DISCOs, and share its digital transformation journey and customer-centric behaviour. Mr Shaikh also praised the KE team’s professionalism, stressing that the company’s empathy has enabled it to become a more service-oriented entity. He said Pakistan needs sustainable measures to promote productivity and KE can be seen as an example that checks this box.
Mr Shaikh also stressed the need for evidence-based and efficient solutions to Pakistan’s economy and commended KE that has implemented a majority of his decisions during his stint at the federal ombudsman’s office.