ISLAMABAD:
The performance of the power sector under the current government has been very poor and gloomy as the sector has been facing a sharp decline in the recovery of power bills and an increase in theft and receivables.
This dismal state of affairs of the power sector was presented to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during a briefing on the electricity situation at a cabinet meeting on September 26. The minutes of the meeting are available with The Express Tribune.
Official sources informed that the prime minister, who chaired the meeting, was told that though the losses over the past one year had remained the same, June 2014 had shown significantly higher losses compared to the same month previous year.
It was further informed that average collection rate of power bills across all the power distribution companies (Discos) had dropped to 80% in 2013-14 from 90% in the previous year.
“This decrease is driven by the drop in collection at TESTO, IESCO and GEPCO. The receivables have increased by Rs100 billion,” the PM was told. According to the document, receivables were Rs384 billion last year whereas they are Rs485 billion this year.
Regarding the decrease in collection by IESCO, it was explained that the collection from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and ministries of the federal government was significantly low.
Ministry bills are paid by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which has a nominal budget provision for the purpose. It was proposed that the ministries should pay their electricity dues from their own allocated budgets.
Finance minister said that the increase in billing had not occurred as a result of slab adjustment. “If the losses could be reduced, the price of per unit electricity would not have increased,” he said, admitting that massive overbilling had taken place. He noted that the receivables should have been recovered.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali stated that the issue of overbilling needed to be resolved. “Action must be taken since people are not satisfied with the performance of power distribution companies,” he was quoted as saying.
The minister stressed the need for the appointment of special prosecutors to address the issue of corrupt officers in government departments, especially in the power sector.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Musadik Malik said that apart from more than 100 interviews, data of 15 million domestic consumers was analysed to identify the cause of consumer protests against electricity bills and develop a strategy to change public sentiment.
He said databases of all Discos had been scrutinised and the billing of all the customers at every Disco from July 2013 to July 2014 was being examined. He pointed out that the government had increased power tariffs by 33% per unit, which raised the average bill by 42% over the past one year.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2014.
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COMMENTS (26)
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@Nazish: Aunty with due respect...are you OK ? Please explain how you see NS ever having done a good job ? I'm not necessarily against anyone but I do believe we as people need to be fair in our assessment of public office bearers. Does your family get personal benefits from this govt ?
and they said ek saal me loadshedding khattam na ki to mera naam bhi shehbaz shareef nai??..memories are bitter to me...joshe e khitabat is a good excuse but the words once come out of your mouth can't get in...if i were nawaz sharif..i would have done nothing apart from doing everything in power sector because that's was one thing which shareefs mentioned in their every speech prior to elections
@AJamal: I think PMLn is doing a goid job. Stay NS stay. But you can send IK hone fir he is only crying.
@Sodomite: and u only know how to criticize, let PMLn work. I have complete faith in NS and his team
@Fawad Gilani: U don't pay because you are probably an employed burden on your parents. Go ask Aboo, he pays the bill.
@salman: Does not reflect the failure of PMLn. Line losses and non payment of bills is the problem, which PMLn is trying to tackle and there is no over night solution. Easy criticize without realizing KPKs PEPCO is the most in efficent DISCO.
@salman:::Abid Sher Ali is just being made a scapegoat for holding him responsible for the mind boggling increase in power tariff.The real person to have spurred the issue is laughing his heart out for having put the whole government in trouble due to raise in tariff and having gotten away blameless
@Zaida: first of all he brought up the idea of civil disobedience in tAugust or sep and this article talks about June and prior months. Moreover the prime ministers company not paying bills or ex foreign ministers (khar )husbands company defaulting and restructuring their payables over numerous years is what exacerbates the losses. Also ofcourse the politicization of everything by those whom you probably support are the primary drivers of line loases
@khwaja: "May i ask what is Abid sher ali s qualification ? Would the corporate sector hire him once he is done with his current mandate ? Can I have 3 achievements to his name ?"
Yes, 1- Achievement One: Nephew of Nawaz 2- Achievement Two: Nephew of Nawaz 3- Achievement Three: Nephew of Nawaz
@Saleem: Nawaz replace ministers?? How can he replace ministers when one is a nephew and the other is brother in law!!
@ash: A work force to be proud of!
@cautious: "Simple solution … don’t pay your electric bill you get cut off" Yes the solution also works in Pakistan; but that solution is only for the poor and odinary people, but NOT for rulers!!
@Zaida: If IK has this much popularity that on his directives people stop paying their bills and the receivables pile up to billion then its a far better option for NS to resign and call new election. Of course this is not the truth. The truth is these non recoveries show a pathetic picture of governance, reforms, accountability, political non interference and lack of transparency
@Zaida: The period to which this receivables relate is "July 01, 2013 to June 30, 2014". Whereas the sit ins started somewhere around 15 August if I remember correctly.
May i ask what is Abid sher ali s qualification ? Would the corporate sector hire him once he is done with his current mandate ? Can I have 3 achievements to his name ?
@Blithe: Wake up bayta Blithe. IK started Civil disobedience one month back. And these overdues are years old. So don't fool the people and go back to where you came from.
Does it show incompetency of Two ministers overseeing affairs or power sector. Then why those has not been kicked out yet? What is Nawaz Sharif thinking? When will he replace his incompetent ministers with people who can deliver?
We were promised competence and good governance. Go Nawaz Go you have failed miserably.
Data analysis, without taking a physical look at my meter is absurd and just intended to pull wool over the sheepy PM's eyes. Each month I am overbilled by 600-800 units. Dr Malik and cohorts are welcome to come see my meter today if they like and it will be much lower than the reading shown on the bill I will receive, usually with only two days till the payment deadline. That leaves me no time to go have things corrected, which are adhoc anyways and involve my taking significant time off from work. The SDO sahab or his useless staff are frequently not present and thus, I gave up on this maddening exercise many months ago.
Its beyond this Govt's capabilities to bring a change in the Power sector. Neither do they have the vision nor the education to comprehend the problems they created for themselves. Dar is the centerpiece of this fiasco.
Discos are hiring SDO & Supervisory staff bribe @ 2 Millions and 1 Million per post Min in FESCO, LESCO what will you expect from this
What do you expect when a leader of the opposition exhorts the public NOT to pay power bills?! Don't think any other nation produces the caliber of politicians that Pakistan does.
We have to try the miscreant burning the electricity bill who is perched illegally on top of a container in D Chowk . That miscreant's name is IK .
Now that Gullu gas been tried, it's Imran's turn to face the music for inciting civil disobedience and violence against the state .
Bottom line. Epic fail by pmln. In any other country Abid Ali sher would have been shown the door by now...uunfortunately for us he is nawaz family therefore his job is safe.
Simple solution ... don't pay your electric bill you get cut off. Works in every country but Pakistan. I wonder how much demand would go down if people actually were forced to pay their bills?
I dont pay my bills just as the Kaptaan ordered