PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to take up the issue of capped net hydel profit in the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) public hearing slated for next week.

A senior government official requesting anonymity told Dawn that the Nepra had scheduled to hold a public hearing on September 8 on increase in electricity tariff and that the provincial government had decided to raise the longstanding NHP issue at the forum.

He said the province, which was getting 40-45 paisa per unit on account of NHP, would push the Nepra into increasing the amount to Rs1.10 per unit.

Senior official says govt may go for agitation if request not accepted

“Currently, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is getting Rs6 billion per annum in lieu of the NHP and in case the unit amount is increased to Rs1.10, this amount will increase to Rs18 billion per annum,” he said.

The official said he strongly felt that if the federal government turned down the province’s demand about the NHP, there was a high likelihood of the provincial government going for agitation against it.

“Rejection of the province’s demand will hot up political temperatures,” he said.

According to him, earlier in March, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had claimed that the federal government had decided to uncap the NHP and as a result, the province would get Rs17 billion hydel profit per year.

However, since then, there has been no progress on the issue to the frustration of officials and politicians in Peshawar.

The official said the simple process of formalising the agreement reached on March 16, 2015 has now taken more than six months but the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) is not ready to accept the agreement.

He said provincial chief secretary Amjad Ali Khan also told federal minister for water and power Khawaja Asif that Wapda couldn’t challenge the federal government’s decisions.

The official said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had demanded net hydel of Rs2.58 per unit in 2013 but later lowered the amount to Rs1.10 per unit.

“Ideally speaking, the province should get Rs1.22 per unit, taking the 5.5 percent annual indexation into account but still, they are sticking to Rs1.10,” he said.

The official said the provincial government had decided to arrange a meeting of all parliamentary leaders to discuss a joint strategy on the issue at the Chief Minister’s House on Monday. “All parliamentary leaders will attend the meeting,” he said.

The official said the government was hopeful about getting approval of hydel profit raise from the Nepra strongly feeling that such a decision wouldn’t benefit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone but Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir would be also its beneficiary.

“Punjab and AJK share of net hydel will go up to Rs8 billion each in case Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s demand is accepted,” he said.

The official said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had based its revenue estimates on Rs18 billion NHP instead Rs6 billion and that denial of the sought-after increase in profit would leave a huge gap of Rs12 billion in the province’s finances. He said increase of hydel profit would increase electricity tariff by 65 paisa per unit.

However, a finance department official told Dawn that MoU was being vetted by the federal law minister after being cleared by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Provincial energy and power minister Mohammad Atif Khan confirmed that his government’s representatives would attend the Sept 8 public hearing.

“We have also decided to contact Sindh and Balochistan to take them into confidence on similar issues faced by them.

Atif said the federal government had accepted the province’s demands but didn’t honour the promise afterwards. He complained if one didn’t intend to do something, then why they made promises.

About the parliamentary leaders’ meeting, the minister said the provincial government had always tried to evolve political consensus on such issues and would continue doing so.

Pakistan People’s Party parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Baacha also confirmed to Dawn that a meeting was scheduled to take place at the Chief Minister’s House to discuss the net hydel profit issue on Monday.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

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