Power Division on Monday announced that it would investigate how Karachi Electric (KE) was able to sell "cheaper" electricity, by Rs 6.31 per unit, to its industrial consumers as compared to industrial consumers in other parts of the country.
This 'commitment' was made by Additional Secretary, Power, Munir Azam to the Senate Standing Committee on Power presided over by Senator Fida Muhammad.
Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak informed the committee that he recently visited KE offices and went through their tariff and compared it to the tariffs of Discos and "learnt" that KE's consumers were being sold electricity on average at Rs 4.81 per unit.
He further claimed that KE's summer power consumption was 3500MW and winter consumption was 1700 MW, showing an average consumption of 2600MW. He said, average energy consumption of KE was 11,232,000,000 kWh units per annum at Rs 4.81 per unit and claimed that due to this discrepancy in electricity tariff, national exchequer has been inflicted a financial loss of Rs 54.026 billion per annum.
The committee members and Additional Power Division argued that this is the responsibility of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), who must keep an eye on this issue.
Domestic consumers of KE were being supplied "cheaper" electricity by Rs 3.31 per unit, he said adding that due to this "discrepancy," the country's circular debt has increased by Rs 54 billion.
"The government should recover Rs 54 billion from KE or give same amount of relief to consumers in other parts of the country," said Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak. He further stated that consumers using more electricity than their previous consumption were, in accordance with the recently announced tariff of Rs 10.75 per unit, being charged in the next category. Power Division officials assured the committee that a clarification will be issued in this regard.
Chairman Standing Committee, Fida Muhammad, claimed that KE was being given 650MW of electricity from the national grid at "cheaper" rates.
When Additional Secretary stated that he got this information during the meeting, committee members expressed 'astonishment' at this argument, saying that a Senator has been able to gather this information but the Power Division was totally oblivious of it.
The officials of Power Division stated that the ECC of the Cabinet had approved supply of 650 MW of electricity to KE from national grid in addition to 150 MW from wind power projects. The committee decided to summon Chairman Nepra in the next meeting on this issue.
In reply to a question, Additional Secretary, Power Division said that the circular debt which was growing at Rs 40 billion per month, has come down to Rs 20 billion per month within a year due to different measures taken by the government, adding that circular debt would be zero by December, 2020.
The committee also discussed overbilling by the Distribution Companies and massive fuel price adjustment due to which consumers were being sent heavy bills.
Senator Moula Bux Chandio stated that Sindh was being treated in a step motherly fashion with respect to supply of gas and electricity. He said cities in Sindh were still facing 6-7 hour load shedding when demand is about 7000-8000 MW.
The issue of overbilling and behaviour of XEN Rotadero in Sindh also came under discussion.
CEO, Sepco Muhammad Saleem informed the committee that recovery in Sepco was Rs 60 billion against supply of electricity to the tune of Rs 200 billion. He said, since October 2018 anti-theft campaign was launched in interior Sindh after which 100 feeders have been cleared from theft after losses were reduced to 10 per cent and meters were fixed on transformers. He further claimed that Sepco team was also working on STG feeder in Rotadero where average losses have been reduced to 30 per cent from 60 per cent.
The committee also discussed the issue of bills in district Turbat, Balochistan.
Beside others, the meeting was attended by Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan, Senator Dilawar Khan, Senator Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Senator Muhammad Akram, Senator Molvi Faiz Muhammad and Senator, Siraj-ul-Haq.
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