President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain has said that the power sector losses including theft stood at Rs 200 billion per annum but nothing has been allocated for it in the last two budgets. He noted that ratio of recovery has improved from 88 percent to 93 percent, transmission and distribution losses have come down from 19 percent to 17.8 percent and power generation companies are reporting profit which is good but the power sector is not self-sufficient therefore government should intervene.
He asked the government to settle circular debt which has become a threat to the economy. Power sector continue to improve while power companies have started generating profits but the sector is still far from self-sustaining, he said. Mian Zahid Hussain said that according to the official figures, circular debt has surpassed Rs 370 billion while power producers have to pay 228 billion rupees to PSO. Total PSO receivables have crossed the limit of Rs 280 billion pushing the company into severe problems, he added.
He said that government should clear the dues of private power producers otherwise they will not be able to clear PSO dues resulting in a crisis that will not only hurt economy but also send a negative signal to the investors. Last year government earmarked Rs 137.6 billion for power sector subsidy but additional Rs 60 billion were spent. This year Rs 95.4 billion have been allocated which has been consumed.
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