K-P opposes changes to NEPRA law

Energy minister says changes will dilute regulator’s powers

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has expressed serious reservations about the move of the federal government to amend the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) law as it fears that changes will compromise neutrality of the power regulator.



Changes would “dilute Nepra’s powers and arm the federal government with unbridled powers,” K-P Minister for Energy and Power Mohammad Atif Khan said in a statement issued on Thursday regarding amendment in the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act 1997.

“These amendments are not in the interest of the provinces and the public in general,” he said.

Clearing the K-P government’s position over the issue, Khan stated that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on May 2, 2017 had directed the federal minister for water and power to hold a meeting with chief ministers of the four provinces to seek consensus over the proposed amendments in the act.

On May 9, 2017, the said federal minister held a meeting with the chief ministers of Sindh and K-P and senior representatives of Punjab and Balochistan governments, but no consensus was reached and later the federal minister claimed that views of the provincial government had been incorporated and the final draft would be shared with the provinces.

He added that when the K-P government received the final draft of the amendments on May 10, 2017, it opposed the proposed amendments and conveyed its concerns.



Khan said, “These amendments will equip the Ministry of Water and Power to add any surcharge of any amount to the electricity bills to fleece power consumers of their hard-earned money.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2017.

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