The federal government has finalised the database system of transmission and generation for next 22 years (till 2040), first time in the history, which will be submitted to National Electric Power Regulator Authority (Nepra) in a couple of weeks. This was disclosed by Secretary Power Division, Irfan Ali at a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Power, presided over by Senator Fida Muhammad. Power Minister Omer Ayub sat in the meeting just for a couple of moments and left for another meeting.
He said that in the past more focus was on generation as compared to transmission, adding that presently the installed capacity is 32,000 MW whereas dependable capacity is 26,000 MW but the transmission system's maximum capacity is 20,000 MW or 21,000 MW.
However, when Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak who is also an engineer asked Secretary Power to answer whether problem is in generation or transmission, Secretary Power, was unable to given any clear answer, saying "both generation and transmission have own different problem."
Secretary Power informed the committee that currently power sector's defaulted amount is Rs 900 billion. The government has constituted task forces in Punjab and KP headed by the Energy Secretaries to initiate actions against electricity stealers and recovery of defaulted amount.
He gave example of an area of Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) where losses were 90 per cent, adding that there are there is two kind of power theft, ie, Kunda and technical interventions. The government is also now investing in technology and installing AMI meters and also replacing cables with ABC cable which is the only way to eliminate Kunda system.
Secretary further stated that Power Division recently some of areas of Sepco, including, Shikarpur and Rato Dero and caught several cases of electricity theft. Action has been taken against electricity thieves and Sepco employees who connived with power thieves. He said four Discos - Hesco, Sepco, Qesco and Pesco are top loss-making companies.
"There are gangs who are involved in electricity theft in connivance with Discos staff," Secretary added.
According to Secretary, Peshawar and Bannu (KP) are also high loss areas, adding that AMI meters and ABC cable will be installed there to deal with this situation. He acknowledged that there are also issues in the ranks of power sector companies.
In reply to a question, Secretary Power Division informed the committee that the amount of circular debt is Rs 1.2 trillion. On this Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak said that the amount of Rs 1.2 trillion is a "theft" which is around $ 10 billion and Pakistan is seeking assistance of $ 6-7 billion from IMF, adding if Pakistani controls this theft, there would be no need of approaching IMF.
Secretary Power requested Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak to have an exclusive meeting with and guide him to deal with power sector issues.
Additional Secretary Power/Managing Director Pepco, Waseem Mukhtar gave a detailed briefing on the history and functions of Pepco. Some of committee members were of the view since the government had replaced Pepco with CPPA-G then there was no justification of keeping it as active.
Secretary Power Division defended the decision of not dissolving Pepco, saying Pepco is a supporting arm of Ministry which monitors and analyse the performance of Discos.
Joint Secretary Power Zafar Abbas gave a presentation on performance and issues of National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC).
According to him, business transfer agreement issues - transfer of properties from Wapda, manpower expansion, training challenges, pay packages and retention, denial of fair tariff by Nepra, taxation issues, recovery on behalf of KE, slow procedures of planning, tendering approvals, financing issues, foreign relent loan policy etc.
The officials of KE also gave briefing to the committee on Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). It was informed that the major difference of opinion between both the parties relates to treatment of Tariff Differential Subsidy (TDS).
KE was of the view that TDS should be dealt as per existing arrangement. KE shall pay the invoices after deducting TDS amount which is responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.
However, CPPA-G says that KE should make payments in respect of invoices to be raised by CPPA/NTDC. The relationship in respect of TDS lies between MoF and KE, hence, should be dealt separately.
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