Centre asks provinces to pay Rs146.176bn power dues

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Khan Leghari Thursday wrote letters to the four provincial governments, asking for immediate payment of Rs146.176 billion as electricity dues to their respective power distribution companies (DISCOs), enabling them to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to the provincial departments.

“This will help bring DISCOs back on the path of efficient service delivery, coupled with making the energy cheaper to end consumers,” he said.

The minister, in its correspondence, also said that one key area in the reforms roadmap pertains to consolidation of financial health of DISCOs. He said in the letter that the federal government was running a campaign for the recovery of unpaid bills wherein besides other challenges, the one key issue faced is the outstanding amount of Rs146.76 billion that the provincial governments need to pay.

The minister also said that with limited financial resources available with DISCOs, it would be very difficult to continue uninterrupted electricity supply.

According to the letters, the Sindh provincial government owes its two power distribution companies Rs59.682 billion, which is the biggest amount of outstanding dues amongst all the provinces. The Sindh government needs to pay Rs21.514 billion to HESCO and Rs38.168 billion to SEPCO.

Then comes the Balochistan government, which needs to pay QESCO Rs39.6 billion. The Punjab government comes third in terms of the outstanding dues which it owes to five power utilities, Rs38.014 billion. The letter explains that the Punjab government is required to pay Rs17.276 billion to LESCO, Rs2.841 billion to GEPCO, Rs5.057 billion to FESCO, Rs2.933 billion to IESCO and Rs9.907 billion to MEPCO. However, the KP government is required to pay just Rs8.88 billion to its two power utilities. The provincial government owes PESCO Rs6.576 billion and TESCO Rs2.304 billion.