NEPRA chief quits amidst of controversy

Saeed ‘illegally’ kept the post one month after end of term.

ISLAMABAD:

National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Khalid Saeed has resigned from his post amid controversy over having illegally working for a month after the end of his four-year term on February 15.

Nepra Registrar Syed Faqeer Hussain confirmed to the media that Saeed sent his resignation to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday. However, he said Saeed would continue serving on the post until his resignation was accepted.

Then prime minister Mohammad Mian Soomro had appointed Saeed as Nepra chairman on February 15, 2008 for four years. The term was to expire on February 15, 2012.

Though his contract was not extended, he kept the post after February 15, 2012, leading many to ask questions over legality of the decisions taken by the authority during that period, say officials.

During the extended period, Nepra issued a notification for an increase in power tariff by the end of February to recover the additional fuel cost borne in August last year.

In a dissenting note with the announcement, Nepra Vice-Chairman Shaukat Ali Kundi said consumers were being forced to bear a high price of electricity because state-owned power generation companies were utilising their resources highly inefficiently, raising the cost of electricity production.

He also pointed to a culture of corruption that had pervaded the entire state-owned power sector and driven up operational costs.

The notification was issued by the authority with a 2-1 majority vote. Chairman Khalid Saeed and Vice-Chairman Ghayasuddin signed in favour of raising the power tariff.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2012.