ISLAMABAD: The Peshawar Electric Power Company (Pesco) Tuesday said the provincial government does not have its writ in many areas of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) due to which theft is not under control.
This was revealed by the officials of the Pesco at a public hearing on multi-year tariff petition held in the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).
Member Sindh Vice Chairman Rafique Ahmad Shaikh, Member Balochistan Rehmatullah Baloch, and Member KP Maqsood Anwar Khan gave tough time to the Pesco's team headed by its Chief Executive Officer Abdul Jabbar.
The Pesco team gave a presentation on its recovery, losses, proposed tariff, future investment, and recruitment plan.
The vice chairman Nepra observed that the business community is not showing any interest in public hearings of the Discos about multi-year tariff.
He advised that the consumers should participate in the Nepra' shearing, so that their concerns are taken care off.
The CEO Pesco informed the authority that the company has slashed technical losses from 38.9 per cent to 38.2 per cent, adding that recovery has also improved.
The Member KP said that 60 per cent transformers in the Pesco are overloaded, questioning the performance of the Disco, which is worst among the existing Discos.
When the Pesco official stated that there is no writ of the government in many areas of the province, Vice Chairman Nepra proposed that those are which Pesco cannot control, can be excluded from the Pesco's jurisdiction.
On this, the CEO Pesco responded that the company is facing staff shortage, adding that efforts are being made to control theft in the province.
He said, an amount of Rs129 billion is pending against the consumers since long and now he has met with law makers and proposed that this amount be against tobacco cess, etc.
The member KP directed the CEO Pesco to submit details of those areas in writing where law and order situation is worst.
The authority expressed displeasure on the performance of the Disco and urged the management to improve it as public finances are being wasted.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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