The country's power sector collection has reached 93.1 per cent from 90.7 per cent due to consistent efforts of the Ministry of Water and Power. According to the documents, actual collection of Discos during first quarter of current fiscal year was 86.9 per cent. The target for second quarter was 95.6 per cent of which Discos achieved 101.5 per cent whereas target for third and fourth quarters was 98.5 per cent and 83.1 per cent. The total collection target for 2015-16 is 90.2 per cent.
An official of Water and Power Ministry said that the IMF and the World Bank urged improvement in recoveries from 88 per cent to 90 per cent. However, Discos achieved 93.4 per cent and also reduced losses by 0.5 percent. He said the financial benefit of this improvement was Rs 61 billion in one year which was unprecedented.
The documents further reveal that Discos actual losses during first quarter of current fiscal year were 21.1 per cent of which the losses of Lesco were 15.2 per cent, Gepco, 14.3 per cent, Fesco, 11.9 per cent, Iesco, 9.6 per cent, Mepco 21.5 per cent, Pesco 41.7 per cent, Tesco 21.1 per cent, Hesco 29.2 per cent, Sepco 42.6 per cent and Qesco 24.9 per cent.
Target of losses for second quarter had been estimated at 12.4 per cent of which the actual losses were 11.9 per cent. The target for third and fourth quarter has been fixed at 13.2 per cent and 22.2 per cent, respectively. The average target of losses for 2015/16 was 18 per cent.
Pakistani authorities have informed the IMF that collections improved from 90.7 to 93.1 percent, "reflecting our efforts to recover arrears, resolve litigations with consumers, provision of incentives to collectors, and a better load management across consumers in rural and urban areas, and industries".
"To address increased losses in some Discos, the chief executives and some members of senior management of poorly performing Discos have been replaced, and the government is working with provincial governments to address their payment problems. We are working to further improve the performance of the sector in the remainder of FY 2015/16." The IMF acknowledged that the power sector over performed in the quarter under review.
Pakistani authorities added that their plan includes steps to improve collections and reduce operating costs, losses, and price distortions in the tariff structure. With this, the accumulation of payables will be reduced from PRs 209 billion in FY 2014/15 (including the PHCL) to under PRs 100 billion in FY 2015/16, with a view towards further halving new arrears accumulation by FY 2018/19, the authorities maintained.