DISCOs Invested Rs 365 Bln In Last Five Years: NA Body Told

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Oct, 2021 ) :The National Assembly Standing Committee on Power on Monday was informed that National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had allowed nine power distribution companies (DISCOs) to invest Rs 365 billion during last five years.

The committee which met with Sabir Hussain Kaim Khani in the chair discussed agenda items implementation status of the previous recommendations, further deliberate on "The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019, the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) BiIl, 202I, load-shedding, high voltage transmission lines passing over residential areas, Report and justification over the recent price hike in Electricity Tariff by NEPRA etc.

Briefing the committee, the Vice Chairman NEPRA told that increase in power tariff was under consideration. Capacity payment to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and appreciation of dollar-rupee parity ratio were causes of increase in power tariff, he added.

He said no improvement in efficiency of power distribution companies despite repeated directives.

The Committee discussed two bills on its agenda namely, "Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019", and "The Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Bill, 2021".

The Power Ministry gave a briefing on the said bills. However, both the bills were deferred owing to observations raised by the committee.

The Ministry also briefed the Committee on the compliance status of its recommendations in the previous meeting.

It was informed that a major chunk of the estimated expenditure in lieu of crop compensation to the landowners affected due to the projects of high transmission poles installed under CPEC had been made.

The Committee recommended that the Ministry should compensate the leftover landowners at earliest and make the remaining payments by 2nd week of November. The Committee also took notice of the issues of power shortages and persistent load shedding in the areas of Ex-FATA.

The concerned DISCO was directed to provide an inclusive solution for those areas by taking the concerned legislators on board.

On a query raised by the Committee, it was apprised by the IESCO that the new electricity connections in the developing areas of Federal Capital were being provided only subject to an NOC by the Capital Development Authority.

The recent increase in the electricity tariff by NEPRA and the performance of Karachi Electric were also discussed.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Sher Akbar Khan, Mehar Ghulam Muhammad Lali, Malik Anwar Taj, Saif Ur Rehman, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Zahid Akram Durrani. The senior officials from the Ministry of Power and other concerned departments were also present in the meeting.