Saarc workshop considers power tariff regulator's role

Privatisation and Investment Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said on Monday that regulator's tariff models should be acceptable to all stakeholders, and consumers be given right to purchase electricity from companies of their choice.
Inaugurating a five-day regional workshop on 'Rate Making and Tariff Setting', being held under the auspices of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy (SARI), India, and sponsored by USAID, he said that healthy competition was necessary for safe, efficient and reliable electric services to the consumers.
The workshop is being attended by 35 delegates from Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. There is no representative from Maldives and Afghanistan.
Hafeez said there was need to realise technical capacity, knowledge, expertise, proper designing of recovery strategy to stop leakage. Moreover, quality regulations were imperative to balance the needs of various stakeholders, including investors, consumers and the government, to ensure recovery of tax revenue.
He said that the role of the government should be confined to policy making, and ownership and management be given to the private sector to plug inefficiencies and losses.
Similarly, the independent regulatory 'authorities' should manage the regulations with integrity, knowledge and right procedure.
He cited the example of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) where, according to him, losses were up to 43 percent due to 'Kunda' system and other methods of pilferage.
Earlier, Lieutenant General (R) Saeed-uz-Zafar said that regulatory regime has become a new phenomenon around the globe, whereas tariff regime was not clear even in the developed countries due to different perceptions, market patterns and requirements.
In South Asia, he said, most of the countries were facing power shortage and making all-out efforts to attract investment in this sector.
He said that the dilemma of a regulator is that on the one hand it wants to attract investors in line with government's policy and affordability of tariff and, on the other, it has to protect the consumers' rights.
Malik, Co-ordinator, International Institute of Education, cited visa problems for the delegates and said that interaction between the Saarc countries over the tariff design and other tariff related matters was a good step, and demanded more close co-operation.
Masood had worked a few years back as Consultant, Ministry of Water and Power. He said that privatisation of power sector would resolve tariff and other issues.
This is the first workshop of its kind in Pakistan, which would also discuss the issues like principles of rate making, retail tariff structure, attraction to private sector investment among other topics to be discussed by the participants.