ISLAMABAD: To prevent power outages and financial losses to the national economy, the federal government on Thursday requested that the four provincial governments pay their electricity bills, which totaled Rs150 billion.
Power Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari asked each of the four chief ministers to personally intervene in order to assist in resolving unpaid debts owed to their departments in separate letters.
He cautioned that “it would be very difficult to continue uninterrupted electricity supply with limited financial resources available with Distribution Companies (Discos), not to mention financial losses to the federal government and the ensuing circular debt which is devouring our economy.”
With payables of Rs59.68 billion as of September of this year, Sindh is at the top of the list, followed by Balochistan with Rs39.6 billion and Punjab with Rs38.01 billion, according to these letters. At Rs8.88 billion, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the lowest electricity payables.
Mr. Leghari informed the chief ministers that in order to get electrical utility firms back on track for effective service delivery, the federal government had started a number of reform initiatives.
“The consolidation of the power distribution companies’ financial health is a key area of the reforms roadmap,” he stated, adding that this was contingent upon increasing financial resources and concentrating on anti-theft and the recovery of past-due amounts that had accrued over time.
According to Mr. Leghari, the power division is launching a campaign to recover unpaid bills. Among other difficulties, the main problem is the billions of rupees that are still owed to provincial government departments.
He requested that the chief ministers directly step in and give the provincial agencies instructions to pay the unpaid electrical bills.
The minister also stated that all necessary coordination for bill reconciliation and clarifications would be provided by the power division and the management of the discos.
The largest defaulter
As of September of this year, the total payables for Sindh’s government departments were Rs59.68 billion, which includes Rs38.16 billion owed to Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) and Rs21.5 billion owed to Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco).
According to the Balochistani government, Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco) has the most delinquent invoices among public sector customers.
Five Punjab-based discos owe Punjab government departments a total of Rs38.01 billion. With receivables of Rs9.90 billion outstanding to Multan Electric Power corporation (Mepco) and Rs17.27 billion as of September, Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) is the most impacted corporation in Punjab. Three additional discos, from Gujranwala, Islamabad, and Faisalabad, have unpaid debts to the government of Rs2.84 billion, Rs2.93 billion, and Rs5.05 billion, respectively.
Similarly, KPK government agencies must pay Tribal Electric Supply Company (Tesco) Rs2.30 billion and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) Rs6.75 billion.
