Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday restrained Sui Southern Gas Company from reducing the gas supply of K-Electric till further order. The court ordered SSGC to comply with the decision of Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) issued in a meeting on April 23, 2018 headed by the former prime minister.

During the CCoE meeting, it was decided that matters pertaining to K-Electric, SSGC and KWSB will be resolved together within 15 days of the meeting. The committee decided that the KE’s payables to SSGC should not be looked into isolation rather KE receivables from different government entities including Rs32 billion from KWSB should also be taken into consideration. As such reconciliation of payment between three entities i.e. KE, SSGC and KWSB should be sorted out in a holistic manner.

While the matter remained unresolved due to developing political situation and completion of government’s tenure, the gas utility threatened to reduce KE gas supply on the pretext of non-signing of ToRs – which is beyond the scope and control of any stakeholder other than the government.

Industry experts believe that SSGC is claiming an exorbitant and sub-judice amount of PKR 79 billion which is not recognised by KE whereas the reconciled principal amount stands at PKR 13 billion.

“The amount quoted by SSGC as dues includes interest and late payment surcharge on dues and the matter is currently in the court of law. While KE continues to maintain power supply to KWSB which owes Rs32 billion to the power utility and no mark-up was levied on KWSB by KE, SSGC’s continuous attempt to recover disputed and sub-judice payment from KE is unfair.”

Due to reduction in gas supply, Karachi was deprived of around 500 megawatts of electricity a couple of weeks back which severely affected the industries and citizens due to forced load management carried out by KE. The gas supply was only increased to required level after the intervention of the federal government.

In the current scenario, SHC’s orders to SSGC to maintain the gas supply of KE comes as a sigh of relief for the people and industries of Karachi. The court has issued notification for June 20 – advising concerned organizations to ensure timely payment of current bills and comply with the decision of CCoE till the next hearing.