ISLAMABAD
\nMeeting of Senate Standing Committee on Power was held here at Parliament House on Monday with Senator Saifullah Abro in Chair. The Senate Committee discussed the unprecedented electric bills that have led to nationwide protests. The Chairman Committee inquiries about the \u2018Capacity Charges\u2019 which are being paid to IPPs.
\nOfficials apprised that the Capacity Payment in the current Financial Year stands at Rs 1.3 Trillion and Dollar to Pkr conversion rate, Imported Coal Price, RLNG and KIBOR are the major factors which determines the Capacity Payments.
\nSenator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee questioned about the electricity theft and electricity subsidy for the current Financial Year. Officials stated that approximately Rs.467 Billion worth electricity theft and around Rs. 976 Billion electric subsidy has been provided in the Financial Year 2023.
\nThe Committee directed the Power Division to provide list of defaulters and outstanding dues in each DISCO in the next meeting.
\nSenator Saifullah Abro lamented the IPP\u2019s and attributing them as the primary reason behind the unjustified electricity costs.
\nHe pointed out that IPP\u2019s have inflated the invoices of three significant power plants, a fact acknowledged by the Secretary of the Power Division. He maintained that unless the IPP issue is resolved, the electricity crisis cannot be effectively tackled.
\nThe Senate body also discussed the Public Petition of Mr. Ashraf Ansari regarding non-payment of group life insurance to retired employees of WAPDA.
\nOfficials informed that Group Life Insurance has been provided in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under \u201cKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servant Retirement Benefit and Death Compensation Act, 2014\u201d, however, there is currently no existing Act that serves as a basis for providing Group Life Insurance to the WAPDA employees.
\nAfter the detailed deliberations, the Committee decided to amend the Act to resolve the issue of WAPDA employees.
\nMoreover, as to current status of implementations of recommendations relating to 765kV Dasu-Mansehra-Islamabad T\/L (Lot-I) and consultant M\/s GOPA Intec, the officials of Power Division apprised that a Committee to analyse the bidding process of LoT-I and investigate the alleged irregularities of M\/s GOPA Intec has been formed and a comprehensive report will be submitted before the committee within a month period time.
\nThe Committee also discussed 765kV Dasu-Mansehra-Islamabad T\/L (Lot-II) in which after the detailed deliberations the Committee unanimously decided that M\/s Harbin Electric International is disqualified firm for LoT-II and huge irregularities have been found by the Committee. Power Division may take action against the company and M\/s GOPA Intec as per discussion in previous Committee meeting related to LoT-I.
\nThe meeting was attended by Senator Fida Muhammad, Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi, Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Senator Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai, Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Haji Hidayatullah Khan, Senator Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Additional Secretary Power Division Arshad Majeed and other senior officers of relevant departments were also in attendance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Power was held here at Parliament House on Monday with Senator Saifullah Abro in Chair. The Senate Committee discussed the unprecedented electric bills that have led to nationwide protests. The Chairman Committee inquiries about the \u2018Capacity Charges\u2019 which are being paid to IPPs. Officials apprised that the Capacity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-352323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n