Govt power sector furious over Nepra report

ISLAMABAD: Nepra’s Annual Report for the year 2014-15 has outraged the government power sector managers, who are of the view that a reading of the report makes one thing clear — Nepra is unaware of its statutory obligation.
Sources in government power sector are upset over what the Nepra has produced in its recently-released report, insisting that the authority has conveniently shifted all the blame on others despite there being a law in place which clearly holds Nepra “exclusively responsible” for regulating the provision of electric power services, i.e. the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997 (the Act).
“Nepra, being a creation of the same law, is therefore accountable for the state of affairs it claims to be existing in Pakistan’s power sector — not the stakeholders of the companies providing electric power services,” a source said, adding, “The reason for this desperate need to apportion blame to others is simple – ineligibility of the chairman and members of NEPRA resulting in a lack of understanding of the power sector dynamics.”
Sources pointed out that the annual report by Nepra places so much focus on the development of employees’ activities, and establishment of gymnasiums and cafeterias instead of power sector development for the benefit of consumers.
“Similarly, in the matter of K-Electric, it has been conveniently forgotten by Nepra that it was the job of the regulator to ensure consistency of performance by K-Electric, which it failed to do every time it reviewed the KE multi year tariff review,” a source said lamenting instead Nepra gave good performance reports to the KE repeatedly, despite which the KE was unable to perform at a time when it was most required i.e. in Ramzan this year.
In the report, according to these sources, Nepra has given the KE the second rank despite line losses higher than six DISCOs and the highest number of complaints from its consumers. “The end of the year KE performance in Ramzan also did not deter Nepra from giving KE the second ranking despite 800 deaths during the heatwave in Karachi, for which the KE was also blamed by some sections of the society,” the government source said.
These sources also referred to the petition of Nadeem-ul-Haq, former Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, filed before the Lahore High Court, challenging the appointment of the chairman and members of Nepra.
It is said that in terms of Section 3(3) of the Act, the chairman, for example, “shall be an eminent professional of known integrity and competence with at least twenty years of related experience in law, business, engineering, finance, accounting, economics, or the power industry”. However, as per the Annual Report 2014-15, the chairman is a retired military officer with apparently only 13 years of experience in the power industry, which is not only less than the experience required of a member, it is also a blatant disregard of mandatory statutory provisions.
Similarly, it is said, as per Section 3(4) of the Act, a Member “shall be a professional of known integrity and competence with at least fifteen years of related experience in law, business, engineering, finance, accounting, economics or the power business.” Again, the Members representing Balochistan, Punjab and KPK presently appointed are either retired military or civil service officers with no or insufficient experience in the power sector.
The government sources said that in the writ petition of Nadeem-ul-Haq, there is also a mention of non-compliances with the procedure of appointments of all four members and the chairman. There appears to have been no advertisement or other form of participatory and inclusive mechanism of searching and selecting the candidates, let alone appraisal of their qualifications before they were appointed, which violates the dictates of the Supreme Court of Pakistan as established through numerous judgments.
Nepra’a annual report has termed the shortfall in electricity production as compared to its demand as fake. The regulatory authority also declared that rulers were deliberately resorting to loadshedding. It also found that TOU (Time of Use) electricity metres of 70 percent consumers were outdated and out timed, which either loot the consumer or deprive the government from justified charges.
Nepra, in its Annual Report 2014-15, criticised the performance of Water and Power Ministry saying the power shortfall and loadshedding were being done deliberately.
Managements of government thermal power plants have deliberately kept the power plants closed, it said adding, “TOU meters of 70 percent consumers were outdated and out timed due to which some consumers were billed off-peak rates and some with peak rates.”