K-Electric (KE) has found itself the target of accusations again. Large parts of Karachi have been plunged into darkness by four major power breakdowns in the past week alone. Coming on top of the recent 1,400 heatwave deaths, made worse by heavy load shedding, the situation has taxed the patience of the city’s denizens to breaking point. According to the preliminary findings of the NEPRA inquiry into those heatwave deaths, the transmission system collapsed under a heavier load in the heat due to KE’s failure over the years to upgrade its grid infrastructure. In a tacit admission of failure, KE’s biggest investors are now planning an exit strategy. The news that the Dubai-based sponsors of KE are working on a sellout strategy is bad news for foreign investment that Pakistan badly needs. Privatisation, touted for years as the panacea for all our economic ills, has proved no solution at all. KE’s Board Chairman and former CEO Tabish Gauhar said in an interview to the Times of Oman that the investors plan their departure by the end of 2016. The ministry of water and power has not given a plausible explanation for KE’s poor performance, except to indulge in the customary blame game. Where is the solution to this hazard to the lives of Karachi’s people? The people of Pakistan are not interested in the finger pointing at each other of the actors in this tragedy. They want a solution. KE’s auditors say the company has spent Rs 77.7 billion on capital expenditure, Rs 11.7 billion on transmission assets and Rs 15.6 billion on distribution assets. These expenditures however, have failed to bring relief to Karachi. KE also reported a profit of Rs 2.6 billion in 2012 and Rs 16.3 billion from July 2014 to March 2015. Instead of relying on the 650 MW it receives from the national grid and allegedly running its plants below capacity to save money, why could not KE have invested some of these huge profits on delivering an adequate utility system? The simple answer is that corporate entities are wedded to the maximisation of profit, not the welfare of citizens. Therein lies the heart of privatisation’s failure in this case. *