Nepra issues licenses to Hazesco for power distribution

MANSEHRA: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has issued licenses to the Hazara Electricity Supply Company (Hazesco) to purchase, transmit, and distribute electricity to consumers within its jurisdiction.

“We welcome the license issuance by Nepra, even though it came after a delay of nearly two and a half years. However, key issues like electricity quota allocation, the establishment of operational divisions and sub-divisions and appointment of operational staff remain unresolved,” said Jamil Tanoli, Chairman of the WAPDA Hydro Electric Union, told reporters on Monday.

He said the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) had notified the creation of Hazesco on January 18, 2023, following approval by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.Later that year, in October, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan issued a certificate of incorporation for Hazesco under the Companies Act, 2017, registering it as a limited company.

“Nepra has now issued two separate licenses, one for power procurement (generation) and the other for transmission and distribution to consumers,” Tanoli said.He added that Nepra had yet to determine the power quota for Hazesco.

“We required over 1,000 megawatt quota, but only 600 megawatt has been allocated so far, resulting in a shortfall that has been causing widespread power outages across the Hazara division,” he said.

Tanoli also emphasised the need for administrative structuring. “Mansehra should be declared a power division, and Battagram, along with the three districts of Kohistan, should be made subdivisions under Hazesco,” he said.

He said that although the company was now going to be fully functional, Nepra has approved only 110 executive positions so far, while approximately 5,000 technical and clerical posts remain to be sanctioned.

Tanoli urged the federal government to notify the executive board of Hazesco for the Hazara division and resolve pending issues immediately so that it could take off without any further delay.

He appealed to Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Mohammad Yusuf, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi, and the former MNA retired Captain Mohammad Safdar Awan, the son-in-law of PMLN chief Nawaz Sharif, to take up these concerns with Premier Shehbaz Sharif, as they had done in the past.