News
Thursday, June 20, 2013
SC proposes ‘out of box’ solution to load shedding* Court suggests govt should deduct at source value of power theft in each province from its share in NFC divisible pool
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: Proposing out-of-the-box solution for the elimination of circular debt, the Supreme Court on Wednesday suggested the government should deduct at source the value of power theft in each province from the share in the divisible pool of the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.
The court also suggested that provinces should purchase power from the national grid and arrange its equitable distribution in their respective jurisdictions to check theft and ensure effective bill collection. It observed that this proposal would help the federal government recover entire cost of the power sold to a province at source and also eliminate the Rs 503 billion circular debt once and for all.
To get rid of the transmission and distribution losses and theft, the three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, suggested, “Let the attorney general seek instructions from the federal government as well as the provincial governments that the provinces should start purchasing electricity in bulk and amount of the same shall be paid or deducted by the federal government from their NFC Award share and as far as the provincial governments are concerned, they being the in-charge to maintain law and order, shall effect the recoveries from the consumers, may be the industrialists or ordinary, so electricity is supplied smoothly to the persons who are ready to make the payment of the charges.”
The court observed that there should be a distinction between legal and illegal consumers and if someone did not want to pay electricity bill their power supply should be cut, adding that only the provincial governments could collect bills as they controlled law and order in their respective jurisdictions.
During the hearing, PEPCO Managing Director Zargham Ishaq submitted details of demand and supply of electricity in provinces. According to him, Balochistan required 1200MW but WAPDA is supplying 701MW to the province. Likewise, Punjab’s electricity requirement is 12,080MW but it is getting 7,740MW. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s demand is 2700MW but it is being supplied 1870MW. Sindh’s requirement is 2200MW and it is receiving 1403MW. Demand of Islamabad is 1600MW and it is getting 1169MW. Meanwhile, Azad Jammu Kashmir’s demand is 400MW but it is getting 250MW from the national grid.
The PEPCO MD told the court that two power plants, Liberty and HUBCO, Narowal, are likely to start generating electricity within the next two weeks, as a sum of Rs 33 billion needs to be paid to them. To an enquiry about the people who had obtained licences from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for installation of power plants but who had not done so, the court was told that they intended to sell the licences at higher rates and whenever objections are raised on this by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the licence holders get stay orders from courts.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk