LAHORE: The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) owes more than Rs40 billion to the Water and Power Development Authority — the largest and cheapest supplier of electricity. The News has learnt that WAPDA, which a year back controlled PEPCO, is facing a severe financial crunch because PEPCO has withheld over Rs40 billion for hydro electricity that the authority regularly supplies to it like Independent Power Producers.
WAPDA officials are tight-lipped in this regard but sources inside the authority confirmed that the outstanding amount against PEPCO has reached alarming proportions. They said that WAPDA supplies electric power to PEPCO at an average of Rs1.07 per unit that is several times cheaper than the electricity the power utility buys from the private sector thermal plants or generates itself. It was learnt that the finance department of WAPDA has been pleading with both PEPCO and the Ministry of Water and Power for the release of the withheld amount when the dues of other electricity suppliers are being paid. It was found that the concerned authorities ignored the request. It was learnt that when the last amount of Rs85 billion was arranged for PEPCO for clearing its debt a few weeks back, WAPDA requested payment of at least Rs20 billion amounting to less than 50 per cent of PEPCO liabilities against WAPDA. Even this request was turned down. The concerned engineers in the authority are at loss to understand the logic behind non-payment of WAPDA dues. They said that unlike the thermal power suppliers that charge high profit for the electricity supplied, WAPDA is providing electricity at no profit. They said WAPDA needs regular payment of power supplied in order to maintain the dams and power generators.
The engineering experts warned that withholding WAPDA s electricity dues would adversely affect the health of water reservoirs and power generation capacity of the authority. WAPDA supplies up to 6,500 megawatts of electricity to PEPCO during peak hydro-generation. All the IPPs combined supply less power to PEPCO. The IPPs charge Rs5-7 per unit from the power company. They said circular debt earlier created by PEPCO due to non-payment to IPPs resulted in irreversible closure of some independent power generation unit and also impacted the efficiencies of Pakistan State Oil and oil refineries as impact of non-payment to the IPPs was passed on to the PSO that in turn passed it on to oil refineries. In case of WAPDA, the non-payment of dues by PEPCO would hit the vital water reservoirs of the country. It was learnt that WAPDA is somehow maintaining the dams and power generators up till now but experts warned that the authority would soon consume all its resources and reserves that would affect the maintenance of large dams if the withheld payments are not released. They said it would also adversely impact the irrigation system of the country and many development projects for storing water and producing hydroelectric power.
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