K-Electric (KE) held its 106th Annual General Meeting (AGM) – FY 2016 at a local hotel in Karachi. The meeting was chaired by Khalid Rafi, Independent Director on KE Board, in the presence of Tayyab Tareen, CEO; Moonis Alvi, CFO; Rizwan Dalia, Company Secretary and other members of KE leadership. KE’s performance has shown sustained improvement over the years. The power utility declared profits of PKR 32.75 billion including deferred tax of PKR 7.95 billion during FY 2016 as compared to PKR 28.32 billion during the same period of FY 2015 – reporting a growth of 15.6%. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) also increased to 1.19 rupees per share as compared to 1.03 rupees. Moreover, reduction in T&D losses, which decreased to 22.2% compared to 23.7% last year, showing a reduction of 1.5%, together with the gains resulting from higher electricity units sent out (FY 2016: 16,545 GWh; FY 2015: 16,111 GWh), have led to an improvement in EBITDA by 28.1%.
On this occasion, the management of KE apprised the shareholders about the development of USD 1 billion 900 MW Bin Qasim Power Station III project, and the progress of USD 440 million TP-1000 (Transmission Enhancement Plan) project. KE has further intensified its drive against power theft and illegal abstraction. “Installation of Aerial Bundled Cables (ABC), which is an innovative concept for power distribution guaranteeing both safety and higher system efficiencies, is also part of our vision to further enhance the reliability of power supply across KE’s network. The power utility is also proud to serve its customers with an award-winning call center equipped with the world’s leading customer engagement platform Genesys, state-of-the-art customer relation & billing management system SAP IS-U and successful roll out of handheld devices for meter reading across its network in line with KE’s customer centric approach and focus on continuous process improvement,” KE management said.
The management also shared the power utility’s robust business plan backed by an investment of over PKR 254 million in view of the growing power demands and to strengthen the city’s power infrastructure. “In consideration of the power demand-supply gap of the mega city, there is a need to upgrade the power infrastructure through additional investment. However, it is not financially viable unless the review petition on MYT pending with NEPRA is decided with a view to undertake the sustainability of KE’s future cash flows to undertake large scale projects in a realistic manner,” KE management highlighted.
During the AGM, the shareholders approved KE’s financial statements and endorsed the decision to reinvest the profit earned in the business in recognition of the continuing improvement plan by K-Electric across all operations. It is pertinent to note that KE has to-date not paid out any dividend and the profits declared in annual audited accounts have been re-invested into the business. This in turn has benefited customers through improvement in supply and quality of service.
Moreover, the shareholders noted with concern that favorable result of company’s review petition on Multi Year Tariff (MYT) determination 2017, pending NEPRA’s decision is critical for financing and developing Karachi’s power infrastructure and stressed that KE’s tariff should ensure the viability and sustainability of the company so that it may undertake the required investments to strengthen its infrastructure and better serve the consumers. The shareholders were also briefed about the power utility’s CSR initiatives which benefits around 3.9 million lives annually with initiatives like provision of free or subsidized electricity to key healthcare and welfare organizations.
Concluding the meeting, KE management thanked and assured the shareholders that the company will continue to follow the best industry practices to further improve the availability and reliability of power supply and to support the economic growth of Karachi and Pakistan.