ISLAMABAD-The Power Division was in the dark regarding the recent huge increase in electricity tariff as it told the Senate panel on Tuesday that the Finance Division is finalising the agreement with IMF which has not yet shared the tariff details with the Power Division.
The Senate Committee on Power, which met with Senator Saifullah Abro in the chair, was informed by the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) that the power breakdown of January 23 was partly due to human error, which had pushed the entire country in darkness.
The Senate Standing Committee has directed the Power Division to constitute an inter-departmental committee under the chairmanship of former officer Tanveer Jafri by tomorrow (today) to find out the reasons for the power breakdown in the country on January 23. The committee expressed its displeasure over the continuous non-participation of Federal Minister Power Engineer Khurram Dastgir and Secretary Power Division in the committee meetings. Regarding the recent increase in electricity tariff, the Additional Secretary Power Division said that there is no increase in electricity tariff. He said that the recoveries were deferred, and now these will be collected. The recoveries were delayed due to the floods in the country, the secretary added.
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The secretary acknowledged that there will be an increase in the electricity bills as result of the hike, however, it will be in the context of recovery. He, however, ruled out any hike in base tariff of the electricity. When asked about the details of the tariff hike, officials of the Power Division were unaware of the hike in electricity prices in the country. The Power Division officials said that the Ministry of Finance is negotiating with the IMF and they didn’t share the details regarding the electricity tariff yet with the Power Division. The standing committee asked for details regarding the increase in electricity prices. On the matter of power breakdown on January 23, the official of the NTDC told the committee that human error was involved in the power breakdown. The main reason behind the blackout was demand supply gap, the official informed. At the time of breakdown the load on the south was 65%, there was a load of 1700MW on three lines from Gaddu - the system tripped in seconds due to frequency isolation, the official added. It was further informed that in winter the difference between load and demand in the main transmission lines creates disturbance.
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The Standing Committee suggested that instead of North and South centers, the system should be further divided. The committee recommended to build four or five power centers to protect the power system from tripping in future. This initiative will save the entire country from going into darkness, the committee maintained. The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) informed the committee that its receivable against KE have reached to Rs 350 billion. Chief Executive Officer of the K-Electric, Moonis Alvi, while briefing the committee, said that the company is currently getting 1000 MW of electricity from the national grid. The committee asked that at what rate KE is purchasing electricity from the national grid? The CPPA official said that basket rate of electricity is determined for all DISCOs and KE is paying the same price.
CEO K-Electric said that the Power Purchase Agreement with KE had expired in 2015 and since then no new PPA has been signed. While briefing about power purchase agreement status between K-Electric and CPPA, Moonis Alvi remarked that draft Interconnection Agreement for supply of up to 2,050MW to KE from national grid was initiated on November 10, 2021 for approval at CCoE. In June 2022, a Taskforce had also been constituted by the Prime Minister for resolution of KE issues which also included execution of forward-looking contracts. Multiple meetings have been held and agreements will be executed post relevant approvals. Commenting on the delay in the finalization of the agreement, Senator Fida Muhammad questioned CEO K-Electric that why the agreement could not be finalized since 2015 and who is responsible for the delay, to which Senator Saifullah Abro remarked that the finalization of the agreement should not be the headache of K-Electric and the Power Division should ensure resolution of the matter.
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Sharing an update regarding the receivable and payable position of the company, CEO K-Electric apprised the members of the committee that K-Electric’s total payable towards government stood at Rs 407.7 billion while total receivables from different federal and provincial government entities stood at Rs 483.6 billion and has a net receivable of Rs 76.7 billion. Official of the Power Division informed that there is a stay order of the High Court in this regard. Secretary Power Division said that matters regarding power purchase agreement with KE will be streamlined to great extent within next one or two meetings. He expressed the hope that the agreement with K-Electric will be finalized soon. The committee asked for the details of KE receivables and payables towards the federal government. Saifullah Abro asked for the update on power supply situation to Balochistan Agricultural Tubewells on which CEO K-Electric informed the session that there are currently 1,434 tubewell connections in the Balochistan region as of 2022, while the billing throughout the year amounted to Rs 1,046 million, KE was able to recover Rs 141 million or just 14%.
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