It has been reported that the government is planning to get a bill passed from the national assembly to recover the circular debt of about 1.9 trillion rupees from the electricity consumers in accordance with an agreement with IMF.
The public was expecting reduction in power tariffs due to considerable fall in the fossil fuels prices and on account of surplus power due to suppressed demand as a result of slowing down of economy.
However the government appears to be indecisive in encouraging the greater use of electrical power by offering incentives to the consumers by lowering power tariffs in order to offset the price impact of unsold surplus power which is a financial burden on the power sector and the government.
Instead they are going to give a big jolt to the already hapless consumers by realizing the amount of circular debt of rupees 1.9 trillion through higher power tariffs.
This would be highly unjustifiable and oppressive action by the government to punish the poor consumers for no fault of theirs. Instead the real culprits behind building up of such large circular debt remain unpunished nor the pitfalls in the governance and running of the power sector are properly addressed.
Raising power tariffs on various pretexts now and then is not the answer to power problems such as maladministration ,incompetence,mismanagement ,power thefts, very high transmission and distribution (T&D) losses,mismatch of generation,T&D sectors,lack of accountability and unsatisfactory interdepartmental co ordination,inefficiency and corruption.
It is hoped that the government will set its house in order first.
Arbitrarily raising of power tariffs is counter productive without tackling and solving the inherent problems within.
Engr Riaz Bhutta
Lahore
