Country held to expensive electricity 'ransom': Nepra chief

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Tauseef H Siddiqui Monday said that Pakistan has been 'ransomed' to expensive electricity due to which demand is lower.

He was aggressively responding to Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak at a meeting of the Senate panel presided by Leader of the House in Senate, Senator Shibli Faraz.

Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak argued that Pakistan's present generation capacity was already higher than demand due to which addition of renewable energy (variable energy) should be considered very carefully.

Chairman Nepra, who spent 20 years in Abu Dhabi, while disagreeing with Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak said that 27 percent of Pakistan was without electricity but he (Senator Khattak) was saying that Pakistan was in surplus. He maintained that 40 years ago when he used to land in Karachi, the city had 10 times more lights than today, adding that 446,000 applications are pending with the Discos and if they are provided cheaper electricity demand would jump.

He said the government purchases electricity at Rs 24 per unit and sells it to consumers at Rs 15 -16 per unit in a basket price; he further stated that the price of electricity to be purchased from wind projects will be at Rs 6 per unit which is four times cheaper than the electricity available at present.

Senator Nauman Wazir, while terming the contracts with IPPs as "dirty" questioned why with an installed capacity of 33,000 MW new plants were being established. He said distribution is the issue, adding that Discos have been asked not to give electricity to thieves.

"If you (Chairman Nepra) talk like this then I don't know how to respond," Khattak continued.

Senator Siraj ul Haq raised the question of justice for KPK with its contribution to hydel generation Chairman Nepra replied that justice should be done with everyone. He questioned if it was justice that gas being produced in the Sui fields was available throughout Pakistan but not in Sui area.

The convener of the committee, Senator Shibli Faraz enquired about the reservations of Sindh government on the recently cleared Renewable Energy (RE) policy.

AEDB CEO Rana Abdul Jabbar said that when all the concerns of Sindh were taken care of during the board meeting, then objections of provincial governments are 'very strange'. He said all RE projects are to be undertaken by provincial governments on a competitive bidding basis. The allocation of land will also be the sole responsibility of the provincial governments, adding that all projects are of provincial governments.

Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak said that Pakistan's installed capacity was 35,000 MW whereas 27,000 MW was dependable capacity and last summary maximum supply was around 23,700 MW. In winter 2018, total supply was around 6,700 MW and now it was around 11,000 MW. He said presently base load was 8,000 MW or 9,000 MW and added that the integrated generation and transmission future plans based on minimum 50 years should depend on constant supply instead of variable supply (unreliable renewable energy). He further stated that the concerned authorities should consider whether renewable energy projected by the government was really the requirement of the country.

Chairman Nepra said that the regulator felt that NTDC was not being given proper input from provinces. However, when NTDC authorities came to Nepra for consultation, the regulator made sure that they should get the relevant information. NTDC teams went to PEDO from where they got substantial information. However, Sindh government was a little bit lazy in this regard but when he warned that if data was not provided within 24 hours provincial government's projects will not be entertained his message worked and they shared the data.

"Now our effort is towards proceeding proactively in a coordinated manner," he said.

Chairman stated that the world is going towards 100 per cent renewable. Pakistan has a difficult task as at present renewable constitutes just a four percent, adding that 20 per cent renewable energy is a dream.

During discussion, bickering was witnessed between the officials of NTDC, CEO AEDB and at one point Chairman Nepra was also seen offering a comment on some issues related to NTDC and AEDB. The general perception was that both NTDC and CEO AEDB were not happy with each other's role.

Faraz also criticized previous governments for signing expensive contracts with IPPs which are now a burden on the consumers.