Power consumers paying taxes slapped on mere assumptions
Business
Nepra and other entities have no record; Payments made to producers after hypothetical calculations
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – Electricity consumers have been charged with different taxes in their monthly bills on the basis of just estimates without any solid calculation – a revelation that is shocking for the people facing an unprecedented rise in costs of living and persistently shrinking purchasing power with no wage hikes or increase in income in sight.
The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) officials have admitted amid record-high power tariffs and inflation in general that the estimates about expansive power generation are also hypothetical and revolve around assumptions.
It doesn’t stop there as the CPPC officials also conceded that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) even didn’t have the details of the payments made to the power producers – an issue which raises serious questions about the working of the regulators and state entities in Pakistan.
The CPPA is a company incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, 1984 and wholly owned by the Government of Pakistan. Since June 2015, it has assumed the business of National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) pertaining to the market operations.
The dismal state of affairs can be gauged by the fact that the amount paid by the CPPA and other organisations to different power plants under the capacity charges were calculated as estimates.
Hence, the Central Power Generation Company (Genco II), Guddu – an entity owned by the federal government – which continued receiving billions as capacity payments. And the Nepra doesn’t have any record of its power generation capacity [maximum power output] and the heat rate for the last several years.
The Central Power Generation Company has confessed that no test is carried out to determine generation capacity and heat rate because of the fear of being caught under the set rules and regulations.
Under the law, it is mandatory to have tests to ascertain the in-use capacity and heat rate of all power plants which hasn’t be repaired for a long period of time.
The officials say conducting these tests after every three to six month is a basic requirement, but the CPPA couldn’t execute that despite receiving the money [on the behalf of producers].
