November 11, 2002	Monday	Ramazan 5, 1423

Due to the recent power hike—first held in abeyance under the presidential orders and quickly remixed/rehashed by Nepra— to the dismay of poor electricity consumers, people have at last long waken up from deep slumber. As a consequence, a very serious debate is being carried on in the press.

Side by side, but this time a little feebly, Wapda carries on with the propagation of its fudged figures. This utility’s chairman, true to his mettle, is sure-footed when he castigates all and sundry including the PSO, the finance ministry, the ministry of water and power and in fact, the GOP, for all its ills. However, it is a foregone conclusion that Wapda, during the last four years or so, has been marred by mismanagement, inefficiency and corruption.

Concerned experts have questioned all facets of Wapda’s working—especially those pertaining to purchase and contracting. According to some of its retired officers, Wapda’s morale is at an all time low and whatever its management says, fact of the matter remains that it has failed to reduce line losses, has not been able to recover arrears, institutionally it is lowered by many notches, and it remains as a poor provider of a utility to its customers.

On the other hand, the government claims that it remains alive to their plight and would insure reduction in electricity prices soon. This, they say, would be achieved through the subsidy amounting to Rs15 billion, improvements in the thermal- hydel mix, conversion of furnace oil fired thermal plants to gas and the reduction of IPP rates as soon as the front-loaded PPAs level off, which according to the secretary, water and power, should be within two years.

However, other experts have a different view. They believe that all these theories look great only on paper but the actual position is totally different. According to an ex-Member (Power) Wapda, the recent decisions of Nepra would simply erode this regulatory body’s credibility.

According to some insiders, Nepra has for ever been under assault and had had a tough time showing a semblance of independence. Nepra’s condition for Wapda to reduce its 25.8 per cent losses to the lowly figure of 22.5 per cent by 30.06.2003 is another issue which has made this body a laughing stock. Financial and technical experts opine that, under the present circumstances, Wapda is unable even to effect reduction in the present level of losses, what to speak of achieving the target of 22.5 per cent.

An in-depth study reveals that the IPP cost per unit is not expected to come down appreciably within the next two years, but would peak and steady itself for nearly four years by the year 2005 where after the actual slide in favour of Wapda would start by the year 2009.

This slide continues till 2021 and onwards for some IPPs which had been granted extended leases of life under the garb of negotiated settlements during 1999-2000. As such the IPP rates will not come to the electricity customers help in the near future.

Similarly, we see that conversion of furnace oil based Wapda and IPP thermal units to gas would take two years as the first of such tenders have opened only now by Wapda.

On the other hand, gas pipe lines needed for such a conversion are as yet not even on the drawing boards. An apt example of the apathy shown by Wapda in this context would be its recent tender for inspection services of Marri-Guddu gas pipe line for it’s thermal power plant at Guddu.

This inspection is pending since the last five years. In view of this position and the tardy way of working, this conversion is far away and would not contribute towards reduction in electricity rates or even in maintaining the present level.

The discussion into the so-called improvements in the thermal-hydel mix of generation leads everyone to a blind alley, especially under the present drought conditions.

It is a fact that new hydel generating stations would only come on bar after five to ten years and that too if the required finance is available. In addition, without a proper and new tariff structure, growth in electricity consumption is expected to remain low with the IPPs remaining the proverbial albatross around our necks.

From the above, it can easily be concluded that none of the above proposals is going to help the GOP’s resolve to reduce electricity rates. In fact, some other steps need to be taken up in hand. The best would be to garner services of professionals in electric utility practice for replacement of the existing non-professionals heading Wapda and the KESC.

Thereafter, these professionals need to be given a free hand, otherwise the nation should be ready for more tariff hikes and bad service.

Actual salvation lies in somehow reducing what is billed as ‘line losses’, recovering receivables, combating the present delay in decision making, improving generation efficiency, easing the present sniffled transmission network and implementing modern HRD and career management programmes.

In other words, the present mismanagement and mal-administration needs to go.