Fresh bid to devolve DISCOs to provinces

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has decided to prepare a framework to hand over power distribution companies (Discos) to provinces amid protest over disparity in load-shedding by the cabinet members.

The previous governments had also made efforts to hand over discos to the provinces but they refused to take control of them due to involvement of subsidies, high theft and distribution losses.

The cabinet has now directed the power minister, power secretary and the Power Division to visit two best and two worst performing Discos and come up with their plans of privatisation or provincialisation.

During a recent cabinet meeting, the participants discussed the issue of disparity in load-shedding among provinces while observing slight improvement in power supply in certain areas, the official sources said.

Highlighting the issue in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the cabinet members noted that acute shortage of power supply in the former was adversely affecting limited agricultural interests.

The cabinet members suggested that against a demand of 800 megawatts, Balochistan immediately needed at least 600MW to sustain their agriculture and related activities.

Discussing Sindh, the participants of the meeting observed that “unfair policy” of K-Electric had further compounded and worsened the issue.

Issues such as departmental mismanagement and reconciliation of bills were also deliberated upon in the meeting.

On matters pertaining to line losses, the cabinet members recommended to ameliorate the situation through provincial engagement.

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The cabinet was told that the energy minister was already deliberating a framework on the privatisation of Discos and handing over them to the provinces. The premier desired that any such framework may be brought before the cabinet with firmed up proposals.

The cabinet members noted that the huge gap in operational capacity resulted due to the PTI government's “failure” to execute projects, which had already been invested in. They were convinced that the gap of 4,000MW would not have occurred had timely decisions been taken by the previous government.

The lapse was criticised and condemned as a criminal delay, and a consensus had been reached that the facts needed to be brought to the knowledge of the people to counter the “misleading and false” narrative of the previous government about overcapacity.

Use of solar energy for domestic utilisation and off-grid solar solution for remote and dispersed areas was considered to be the most viable solution after a cabinet member underscored the need for a paradigm shift in the energy sector.

The cabinet members while expressing concerns about the ground water depletion observed that the strategy regarding conversion of tube wells to solar energy needed to be rational

Role of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) in the context of green energy solutions as a strategy for the future was also discussed in the meeting.

The premier while appreciating the suggestions reiterated that a sincere effort to move in this direction was the need of the hour. He directed the power minister and power secretary to bring firmed up proposals and plan on the issue in light of the cabinet members' recommendations after due consultations with the provinces.

The premier directed the authorities concerned that no more than two hours load-shedding be carried out.

The cabinet took note of the presentation on load-shedding management by the Power Division and directed the power minister, power secretary and Power Division to bring firmed up proposals in the form of a comprehensive plan in the light of the cabinet members' suggestions after due consultations with the provinces for consideration of the cabinet.

The Power Division secretary will target no more than two hours load-shedding henceforth.