Power companies: USAID to continue assistance

Power costs must be covered to address outages: director.

ISLAMABAD:

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has assured Pakistan that it will continue to provide assistance for power distribution companies to help them improve performance, increase revenues and overcome challenges for giving maximum relief to people.

USAID Power Distribution Improvement Programme’s Director Dick Dumford stated this at a workshop on Wednesday, sponsored by the US government in collaboration with the Ministry of Water and Power for senior management officials of eight power distribution companies.

The workshop was aimed at introducing latest international practices in strategic planning with focus on improving operations of power companies, which will lead to an increase in revenues and better customer services.

US has committed to supporting Pakistan in reforming the energy sector and addressing power shortages. USAID implements assistance programmes, which also support completion of dams, renovation of power plants and introduction of efficient technologies.

Dumford said better management could help maximise business activities and added that capacity-building of personnel in power companies could be extremely helpful in revenue collection and confronting challenges.

“Until cash flow through the electric power system from the consumer to the fuel supplier is adequate to cover all power system costs, the system will not be able to attract investment, address outages, improve services and avoid dependence on government subsidies,” he said.

The assistance to power companies in improving their commercial performance would ultimately improve financial health of the entire power sector, he said, adding the training was led by international experts in strategic planning and change management, giving awareness of basic tools to handle challenges being faced by power companies.

Faisalabad Electric Supply Company CEO Tariq Mehmud Chattha declared that the company would strive to devise a better business plan next year and said efforts were being made to overcome the gap between supply and demand of power in the region.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2011.