ISLAMABAD: Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) has urged Central Power Purchasing Agency- Guaranteed (CPPA-G) to revise criteria to determine supplemental charges on Late Payment Surcharges (LPS).
In a letter to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) CPPA-G, CEO PESCO Jabbar Khan has intimated that CPPA-G has charged Rs. 98.223 billion to PESCO on account of late payment surcharges, i.e., supplemental charges during the last 13 years starting from FY 2009-10; however, neither any details nor the basis of estimation of these charges has been shared with PESCO.
He added that after various Board meetings of PESCO on this issue, it was resolved to take up the matter with CPPA-G regarding the criteria used to determine the shared supplemental charges, and accordingly this was requested from CPPA-G but the details are yet to be received.
According to the CEO, apparently, subsidy and AJ&K receivables are not being accounted for in the calculations, and since subsidy and AJ&K receivables are part of the cost, hence these should also be considered and due credit of outstanding amount may be allowed to PESCO as the onus of delay in payment of subsidy and AJ&K receivables is not on the power company.
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CEO PESCO in his letter further stated that subsidy is part of the price and its non-payment/ late payment totally depends upon the Finance Division and GoPs budgetary provision; however, despite the fact that PESCO timely submits its claim on a monthly basis, which have been verified, but still Rs. 49.408 billion are receivable on account of subsidy from the Government of Pakistan.
Moreover, CPPA-G has issued cumulative invoices of power purchase to PESCO by including the TESCO purchases up to 2014-15 and accordingly the supplemental charges may include the amount related to TESCO, which needs to be revised to deal with TESCO share separately.
CEO PESCO, maintained that the details are prepared for the sake of understanding only and PESCO stance for booking of the supplemental charges is still dependent on the determination of the cost by NEPRA as the Authority has already directed CPPA-G during PESCO tariff petition hearing of FY 2015-16 to file a separate petition for the supplemental charges. Jabbar Khan requested CPPA-G to revise the criteria for allocation of supplemental charges and revised calculations (approx. Rs. 72.860 billion) along with details of the charges may be shared with the power company as per the resolution of PESCO BoD. In addition, the share of TESCO may also be excluded, he concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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