Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) restrained Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) from reducing the gas supply of K-Electric (KE) 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 the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) will be resolved together within 15 days of the meeting. During 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 PKR 32 billion from the KWSB should also be taken into consideration.

It was decided that as such reconciliation of payment between three entities: 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 the government’s tenure, the gas utility threatened to reduce KE gas supply on the pretext of non-signing of Terms of Reference (ToRs) – which was beyond the scope and control of any stakeholder other than the government. Industry experts said that SSGC was claiming an amount of Rs79 billion (bn) which was not recognized by KE whereas the reconciled principal amount stood at Rs13 bn. “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 PKR 32 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,” commented an expert.

Published in Daily Times, June 20^th 2018.