Power Division accused of failing to bring down circular debt

Senate Standing Committee on Power on Tuesday accused Power Division of failing to bring down circular debt and just showing an improvement in recovery through increase in electricity tariff. These accusations were hurled by treasury Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak and other Senators who were angered at the continuous absence of Secretary Power Irfan Ali from the Standing Committee meetings. Minister for Energy, Omar Ayub was also absent from the meeting.

Setting aside political affiliations, Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak said that the country has two key issues i.e. State Owned Enterprises (SoEs) which swallow Rs 400-500 billion from the national exchequer each year whereas the second issue is power sector.

He further stated that energy sector circular debt has reached Rs 1.7 trillion and the Power Division has promised to bring down the growth in the flow of circular debt to zero by the end of current fiscal year. However, according to him, no reduction has been witnessed so far.

"I had sought data of per unit recovery from the Power Division, Nepra and CPPA-G which has not been provided so far," he said adding that when rate is increased then of course recovery will be better.

He said, power sector issue is a big problem which needs consecutive meetings to determine solutions. He said, the Power Division does not have any plan to retire circular debt. He said, no change will come with installation of smart meters.

Chairman Standing Committee, Fida Muhammad argued that Power Division has failed to provide any relief to the consumers. He said out of 10 meetings of the committee, Secretary Power Division, attended only one meeting.

There was general impression that bureaucracy does not give due respect to the committee which is an arm of Parliament.

Senator, Gianchand, Senator, Ghous Muhammad Khan Niazi, Senator Muhammad Akram, Senator Sitara Ayaz and Senator Bahramand Tangi supported Chairman Standing to scrap the committee.

Additional Secretary (Power Division) Munir Azam, failed to convince the Standing Committee that the presence of Minister and Secretary in a meeting related to Turkish President's visit was more important than the Standing Committee.

Chairman Standing Committee asked the Additional Secretary to convey the atmosphere in the committee to the Minister and Secretary.