Islamabad, 28 February 2023 (GNP): Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan briefed the parliament on Monday that the government would retrieve unpaid fuel bills from consumers of less than 300 units for an eight-month staggered timetable, ranging from Rs9.90 to Rs14.24 per unit.
Mr. Dastgir claimed that customers who used over 300 units to pay for loans for the electricity sector would additionally be charged a further penalty of Rs3.82 per unit at the IMF’s request (IMF).
Mr. Dastgir stated during his testimony before the Standing Committee on Power of the National Assembly that the government had to fulfill the IMF demands on every aspect of the power sector after reviewing all the data and facts because the fund demanded an instant rise in electricity rate in the country to negotiate a deal for a financial bailout.MNA Sardar Riaz Mehmood Khan Mazari presided over the panel meeting.
The Electricity Division has also requested roughly Rs300 billion in the budget for the following year, besides this sizeable cash from users for development initiatives to address systemic issues like theft prevention and technical reduction of loss.
According to the power minister, the unpaid fuel cost adjustments from June and July of last year that were delayed because of flooding would be collected, but consumers with over 300 units would be subject to a financing cost extra charge to pay off the debt that has been decided to park against the energy holding company.
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It is to be observed that the Power Division has previously requested that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) adopt a new tariff schedule that will charge Rs10.34 per unit on covered consumers of a maximum of 200 units and Rs14.24 per unit on non-covered consumers of up to 300 units during eight months, beginning in March and ending in October 2023, at a cost which would range from Rs2.75 to Rs1.50 monthly.
In the initial week of March, the regulators are anticipated to finish the procedures. These fees were retrieved from larger monthly consumers with 300 units or more, but they were delayed for the others because of flooding.
Meanwhile, the government has promised the IMF that it will impose a financing cost charge of Rs3.82 per unit to pay off the over Rs800 billion in debt owed by the electricity sector.
The minister announced that the government was currently developing a plan to reduce fuel prices by harnessing solar energy to generate as much electricity as possible during the daytime and minimizing the use of pricey imported fuel oils. Khurram Dastgir stated that the government will outsource loss-making feeders, hoping to recover instead of privatizing distribution firms. He stated that to lower tariffs, reducing losses and theft prevention would need to be addressed because they both contribute to rate increases and theft prevention is among the most crucial criteria for the reduction of tariffs.
The committee might receive an in-camera briefing on billing and thefts of such places, he said, adding that there were feeders where 98 percent of the bills could not be retrieved.
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He claimed that technology will be crucial in this respect and that by June of this year, major consumers would switch to smart advanced meters, enabling real-time live monitoring of around 150,000 large customers.
Rather than closing down entire feeders, the panel requested that the Electricity Division develop a system to implement load-shedding at the micro-level. A proposed amendment to the Electricity Act of 1910 was also requested from the Power Division to prevent harm from high-tension transmission lines crossing over residential areas.
The panel approved the Electricity Division’s PSDP proposals totaling Rs298.44 billion for the years 2023–24.
