ISLAMABAD: The Board of Directors (BoD) of Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) has slashed the fee of board members by approximately 42 percent to Rs 35,000 from Rs 60,000 per meeting besides saving Rs 1.5 billion by reducing losses and improving revenue.
GEPCO Board Chairman Shuaib Butt in a letter to Secretary Power Division, Rashid Mahmood Langrial has shared key accomplishments of the company, which was in hot waters for recent promotions.
The Board of Directors of GEPCO was reconstituted on July 29, 2022 whose first meeting was held on August 4, 2022, wherein the Board, in principle, decided to reduce the financial burden on the exchequer by reducing the fee of its members from Rs.60,000 per meeting to Rs. 35,000 per meeting. A few of the board members voluntarily refused to accept any remuneration/fee from GEPCO and decided to work on a pro-bono basis.
Performance audit of BoDs of LESCO, FESCO, GEPCO ordered
By reducing the frequency of the meetings and plummeting the Board fee, the existing GEPCO Board has saved Rs. 27.613 million during FY 2022-23 as compared to the previous Board (existing Board expenditure during FY 2022-23 is Rs. 8.869 million against Rs. 36.482 million expenditure of the previous Board in FY 202 I-22).
According to Chairman GEPCO Board, the company has taken significant measures to enhance operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall business performance. “Our financial performance have demonstrated steady growth over the past one year with increase in revenue and reduction in overall company losses i.e. 8.61% as compared to 9.07% of the corresponding period (less than the NEPRA & the Ministry target) resulting in saving of approximately Rs. 1.5 billion in terms of monetary benefit. The overall recovery of the company has increased up to 99.86% as compared to 99.70% of the corresponding period despite of the litigation on the Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA) and reduction in paying capacity of the consumers due to high inflation rate,” he added.
GEPCO has also implemented strategic measures to enhance operational productivity, resulting in streamlined processes and reduced costs.
Through efficient planning, GEPCO has installed 239,077 new connections and implemented 40 HT and 1594 LT proposals/chain augmentation during the Financial Year 2022-23, which are far beyond the target assigned by the Ministry.
“Despite the challenging economic conditions, the Company has managed to curtail its losses and improve recovery through resilience, creativity and adaptability, finding innovative ways to navigate obstacles and achieved success despite odds,” he continued.
The company’s diligent procurement practices have yielded impressive results, leading to significant cost saving. Through strategic sourcing, timely decision making, meticulous vendor consultations, and streamlined purchasing processes, the company has saved millions in terms of procurement costs as compared to the other Discos.
GEPCO has successfully embarked on a transformative journey of digitization. By implementing advance systems such as ERP, GIS Mapping, AMI and SCADA, the Company has ushered in the new era of operational excellence. Automatic Metering Infrastructure (AMI) cell has been established along with installation of I1,804 AMR Meters on Industrial Connections (25kW & above) in short span of time. The Company has planned to extend AMI system to all B-I (industrial meters below 25kW) and D-2 (Agriculture) connections by end of June, 2024. Similarly, GIS Mapping of the HT Network has been completed and the Implementation of a modern and state of art load dispatch center, SCADA/DMS and communication network is in process.
Under the oversight of the Board, quality control review of the internal audit function has been conducted to identify the GAPs in the internal audit activity of the company.
The weaknesses in the department have been addressed through developing internal audit charter that is testament to our unwavering commitment to operational excellence.
GEPCO Board is in process of developing the HR Policies crafting guidelines that govern various aspects of employees’ behavior. performance and company procedures.
According to sources, discrepancies have been found in promotions, after the incumbent CEO was pressurized by the Engineers, adding that the case may land in Senate Standing Committee of Power, which is already grilling entire Power Division including the Minister and top officials for their failure to take action against incompetent CEOs.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023