Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chairing the ECC meeting at the PM house. PHOTO: PID/FILE
ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday approved new policy guidelines for the national power regulator, asking it recover cost of circular debt from the consumers, while it allowed a 2.93% relaxation in its set transmission and distribution loss target.
During the meeting between the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet on Wednesday with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in chair, it decided to approve a summary for issuing new policy guidelines to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
According to the new policy, the power regulator will be directed to incorporate circular debt servicing on actual basis in revenue requirements of distribution companies. This would then be adjusted in power tariffs for DISCOs on an annual basis.
Further, the government told NEPRA to rationalise transmission and distribution losses to 15.75%, down from the 17.55% claimed by DISCOs for fiscal year 2013-2014. The new policy guidelines though rationalise T&D losses above the set target of 12.82%.
The Minister for water and power though informed the ECC that the government had managed to improve recovery and contain line losses up to 2% over the past year.
Gas allocations for power sector
In a bid to tackle the menace of load shedding, the ECC considered and approved allocating gas from dormant gas fields of SARA and SURI in district Ghotki, to GENCO-II on mutually agreed terms and conditions.
The two gas fields have approximately 14-15 BCF gas reserves. However, it remains unexploited due to lack of investment.
ECC also approved a summary for re-allocation of low BTU gas from Bahu gas field to Fauji Kabirawala power company limited (FKPCL). The allocation to the project will be for the remaining term of its PPA i.e. till October 29, 2029.
Tax exemption to Gwadar projects
The ECC also approved the summary of the Revenue Division for transfer of tax exemption given to PSA Gwadar Pte Limited as per ECC decision in case No.13/1/2007 dated February 1, 2007, to China Overseas Ports Holding Company Limited for the remaining period of their terms.
ECC also approved the summary of revenue division for exemption from income tax to profits and gains derived by coal mining projects in Sindh supplying coal to power generation projects only.
The meeting was also attended by Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Pervez Rasheed, Minister for Water & Power Khawaja Asif, Minister for Planning & Development Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid, Minister for Textile Industry Abbas Khan Afridi, Minister of State for IT Anusha Rehman, Chairman Privatization Commission Muhammad Zubair, Federal Secretaries and senior officials.
COMMENTS (6)
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Its high time that provincial governments should help recover the bills of WAPDA instead of using MPAs to harass the WAPDA personnel.
So, let me get this straight. Govt DIscos ...who are inefficient, aren't doing their jobs properly...and govt gives further relaxation to them. And the consumer, (who dont run this discos, have nothing to do with them) will have to pay for the disco's/IPPs/Nepras inability to do their jobs?
Noway Hozay, PML-N.
Why not Circular Debt be paid from Nawaz Sharif & Mian Mansha's account? why pass circular debt to honesty consumer who already paying their utility bills?
Disgusting & Awful.
The voters of voted for PML-N are confirmed Chutiyas.
regards,
So the government agencies and kunda party ,do not pay.......and the paying customers shoulder the burden.....DEMOCRACY ( for the few, by the few, in the name of the many ). The funny thing is that most of the kunda party do pay but that money is considered as ' top money ' and it runs into the millions if not billions taken over a period of time. How many millionaires has this corrupt system made....at the expense of the masses.
So the master plan is to raise the suffering of the common consumer? How about bearing accountability of the institutions that failed to execute? The corporate pieces need to share in this burden.
This is bad management. What kind of budget government purposes, when in the end the government departments can't pay the dues. Nawaz government has brought country to new lows.