(Asghar Ali Mubarak)
Islamabad (TNS); Federal Minister for Energy Owais Leghari has said that they are planning for the next 10 years under the electricity policy, discussions with 36 IPPs resulted in a saving of Rs 3,696 billion, this saving will be a big relief for the consumers in the coming years. In a media briefing on electricity prices in Islamabad, he said that the biggest challenge in the power sector is the cost of production, excessive increase in electricity tariff is also a challenge for the power sector, a decision has been made not to buy expensive electricity for the future. They are planning for the next 10 years under the electricity policy, IG SEP is almost at the end, they are going to present the plan to the Prime Minister in one to two weeks. The Federal Minister for Energy said that circular debt and inefficiency of DISCOs are a challenge for the power sector, the continuous decline in electricity demand is the biggest problem at the moment. Circular debt has currently reached around 2,400 billion, coordination leak on the part of DISCOs is a big challenge, all these problems should be resolved soon. Owais Leghari said that circular debt will be eliminated within 6 years and it will be brought to zero in the coming years, all electricity meters are being replaced with automated systems. Regarding the privatization of electricity distribution companies, he said that the privatization process of companies supplying electricity to Islamabad, Faisal and Gujranwala (ISECO, FESCO and GEPCO) is underway, while in the second phase, companies supplying electricity to Lahore, Multan and Sukkur (LESCO, MEPCO and SEPCO) will be privatized. He said that 27 thousand tube wells will be converted to solar energy in 7 months. The Federal Minister said that 3 thousand 696 billion was saved through discussions with 36 IPPs, this saving will prove to be a big relief for the consumers in the coming years, at present the remaining period of at least one IPP is three years, discussions will also be held with the remaining IPPs. Owais Leghari said that Pakistan is proud of the CPEC framework with China, efforts will be made to produce through coal in Chinese plants. Regarding the reduction in electricity rates, the Federal Minister said that nothing can be said about the reduction or increase in the basic electricity tariff right now. It remains to be seen what the situation will be in the basic electricity tariff by June. He said that all matters are carried out through the regulator, the government does the work, a plan has been made to reduce losses in transmission lines. Due to losses in transmission lines, electricity is expensive by 1 to 2 rupees. If there were no losses in transmission lines, today there would have been an additional relief of 1 to 2 rupees.
