The Ministry of Water and Power on Monday briefed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) regarding the status of power generation in the country.

The PAC was informed that Pakistan's circular debt currently stands at Rs402.14 billion, of which outstanding payments for electricity stand at Rs237bn.

It is worth mentioning here that the incumbent government had paid off Rs480 billion in outstanding dues when it assumed power in a bid to control the spiralling circular debt issue.

Other major heads in the circular debt include outstanding payments for gas, which stand at Rs11bn, and oil arrears, which stand at Rs99bn.

The PAC was told that the country is currently producing electricity at an average Rs8.52 per unit and selling it to consumers at Rs11.97 per unit.

According to the ministry, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has allowed power generation companies to charge for line losses to the tune of 15.3 per cent, but actual losses stand at 17.9pc.

It was further revealed that transmission losses had stacked up to over Rs135 billion over the past four years.

Separately, transmission losses from solar energy stack up to Rs135 billion while losses worth Rs182 billion are attributable to unrecoverable bills, the ministry informed the PAC.

The circular debt also includes Karachi Electric's (KE) outstanding Rs22 billion.

Member PAC Abdul Mannan asked why KE has failed to produce the amount of electricity that it signed agreements with China for, upon which he was informed that KE's agreement with Shanghai Electric is suspended at the moment.

The committee was also informed that KE's 650 megawatt agreement with the Water and Power ministry had ended, but the ministry continues to provide electricity to the company.

The PAC was told that the ministry needs to collect Rs62 billion in subsidies and other costs and the finance ministry has been directed to clear its dues. Members of the ministry further said that if the dues are cleared, it will be able to pay independent power producers and Pakistan State Oil's dues.

PAC member Naveed Qamar pointed out that loadshedding remained unchanged even though 5,000MW of electricity were added to the national grid. He also said that the excuse that there has been an increase in consumption does not seem valid.

Sardar Ashiq asked why no attention was being paid to alternative energy resources even though the State Bank has provided loans for solar energy projects.

Khurshid Shah pointed out that citizens also wanted to move towards solar energy and asked if there was a subsidy on that form of energy.

Junaid Anwar Chaudhary recalled the government had started a reverse metering project two years ago, but people were not being allowed to avail that facility any more.

He added that a number of people want to create and sell energy from solar panels but the government has not encouraged them to do so.

Upon this members of the water and power ministry said that the matter has been brought to their notice and they will look into it.

Overall, however, the ministry failed to satisfy the PAC with the briefing and was subsequently directed to brief the committee again on a future date.