Daily Times

Only time will tell if the recent agreement between the government and independent power plants (IPPs) set up in 1994 by the Benazir Bhutto government and in 2002 by the Musharraf government will reduce power tariff or not. The government functionaries have hailed the agreement as a major breakthrough that will save billions giving direct and indirect relief to the government under IPPs’ slashed overall returns, which will reduce power bills. The revision of the agreement must bring down production expenses and circular debt besides improving public savings. Right now, circular debut pops up unwantedly and in March last, it forced the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to seek a power emergency when the circular debt reached Rs 1.93 trillion. The authority had to reach Prime Minister Imran Khan for emergent steps to help the sector tackle the vicious circle of circular debt; since then the government started working closely with IPPs, NEPRA and alternative power producers to revise the upfront agreements. The current volume of the debt is higher than the earlier reported figures by the power division. The debt volume has never decreased despite decreasing POL prices in the international market and government withdrawing subsidies on power bills domestically. According to NEPRA, circular debt went up by an average Rs 42 billion a month in 2018-19; the total bill went up by Rs 492 billion in 2018-19 alone. Transparency of figures is another issue as the power division reported an average Rs 10 -12 billion per month increase. This should have triggered a third-party audit or a forensic audit, which the IPPs always resist. The Pakistan People’s Party government of 2008-13 did not succumb to IPPs pressure to release Rs 500 accumulated as circular debt. Neither the government released the money, nor did IPPs stop production until the Pakistan Muslim League-N took over, which released the amount without any audit. Since then, power circular debt has become a permanent feature of our power circles which keeps on swelling.a
The recent agreement does not involve the power units set up under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and other larger IPPs besides WAPDA-run power companies and hydropower and nuclear power projects, which provide 75 percent of the power generation. Hopefully, the government will involve these units in the agreement as well so that a uniform payment mechanism is put in place. Moreover, the government should make future arrangements for securing the nation-friendly deals with international companies. *