Senate body seeks details of power tariff's increase in CY19

Senate Standing Committee on Power on Tuesday sought details of increase in electricity tariff during the current calendar year, starting from January 1, 2019.

The committee presided over by Senator Fida Muhammad gave these instructions to Additional Secretary Power Division Waseem Mukhtar, who is also Managing Director Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), after he failed to provide any details on the matter.

The government has increased electricity tariff by over Rs 3.5 per unit in several installments which has disturbed the financial position of consumers especially with respect to Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA).

Senator Siraj ul Haq enquired from Additional Secretary Power Division as to how much the price of electricity has been increased during the past fifteen months and the cumulative financial burden, including FPA, transferred to consumers.

He argued that these are not political questions but questions which relate to the masses as electricity bills increase their blood pressure.

Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak also sought feeder-wise information about sold units, line losses and recovery. He maintained that Discos'revenue has increased and questioned if this has happened due to increase in sold units or increase in tariff. Managing Director Pepco stated that provision of data from 8000 feeders across the country would be difficult. However, Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak clarified that he wants analysis of feeders not the entire data. Managing Director, Pepco promised to share Discos data with the committee.

Replying to a question, he stated that the government is still collecting Neelum Jhelum surcharge from consumers as the project has yet to achieve financial closing.

The committee also discussed the role of agencies administering tests for hiring in public sector departments. Senator Siraj-ul-Haq also raised this issue, saying that the hiring of services of private testing agencies for recruitment in government departments has become a business.

The committee discussed progress made with regard to recruitment of 3000 personnel in Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for which over 7 million individual submitted applications.

CEO Pesco, Engineer Dr Amjad Khan informed the committee that the company i.e. Stepnex was in the process of amending the contract with the testing firm to avoid litigation or inquiry by FIA or NAB.

He further stated that the testing company, after receiving applications from interested candidates, issued a booklet for Rs 700 or Rs 800. When this issue came to his notice he decided to amend the contract with the company. For this purpose the earlier contract has been amended in consultation with lawyers and a few judges to avoid any litigation or FIA/NAB inquiry.

"In case, the recruitment process is declared null and void by the court due to the issue of booklets, the testing firm has to return the entire amount to Pesco which will be subsequently spent on the next recruitment process and fresh fee will not be received from the candidates," Dr Amjad added.

CEO Pesco and representative of Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization (PEDO) briefed the committee about wheeling charges of 18 MW Pehur hydel power project and reasons for the delay in signing of Energy Purchase Agreement (EPA) for 2.6 MW Machai hydropower project.

Both CEO Pesco and the representative of PEDO informed the committee that the issue of wheeling charges will be settled after Nepra finalizes its determination for which advertisement has already been given in the media.

On Machai hydropower project, the committee was informed that on April 23, 2019 Pesco asked PEDO to provide following testing documents: (i) certificate from independent engineer regarding commissioning of the plant; (ii) tariff on take & pay as per Supreme Court decision of July 12, 2018; and (iii) action taken as per Nepra directions in the determination of March 14, 2014 under clause-k.

The committee was further informed that Pesco will not purchase from Machai until some tests are carried out by the independent engineer for Commercial Operation Date (COD).

Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak asked the representative of PEDO to file a petition with Nepra, saying that Pesco was not ready to pay for hydrologic risks. He argued that Nepra can increase Machai's tariff from Rs 1.26 per unit to Rs 6 or 7 per unit due to hydrological risks.

Beside others, the meeting was attended by Senator Muhammad Akram, Senator, Agha Shazaib Durrani, Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan, Senator Dr Ghous Khan Niazi, Senator Ali Shah Jamot, Senator, Molvi Faiz Muhammad.