LAHORE, Nov 3: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has no control over the efficiency of the Water and Power Development Authority.

This was stated by Nepra chairman Lt-Gen Saeeduz Zafar (retired) here on Monday. He was talking to newsmen after speaking at a meeting of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry members here.

The government allowed Wapda a certain level of line losses and the Nepra could not press it further on this account. But it has certainly control of tariff which it tried to keep to a minimum, he said.

The Nepra was trying to keep a check on distribution companies and improve customer service. It has established four provincial offices to take care of customers and asked the respective provincial government to run them. But the provincial governments have been refusing to manage these offices for lack of finances.

Earlier, Mr Zafar explained to the businessmen the working of Nepra and process of tariff petition hearing. He invited the business community to take active part in such petitions.

The LCCI members said the whole business community was unanimous in regretting the high power tariff and its effects on the industry, specially with reference to the coming World Trade Organization (WTO) regime.

They said the industry had lost its competitive edge because of the high cost of electric input. The government and the Nepra must try to analyze why there was no investment in the country in spite of lowering interest rate and reduce cost of business in the country. They insisted that it was all because of high power tariff.

“The Nepra Act and other legislation are biased in favour of Wapda and designed to protect it rather than consumers. The Nepra must assert itself in protecting consumers.

“Commercial tariff, which is as high as Rs9 per unit, must be brought down to Rs6 —- equivalent to present industrial tariff. The industrial unit price should also be cut down to Rs3 per unit from the present Rs6 during the next one-and-a-half year,” they demanded.

The businessmen were of the view that improper engineering practices by Wapda were keeping line losses very high. The common man or the industrialists were being made to pay for the inefficiency of Wapda.

“The maximum demand indicator, which puts fixed charges on the consumers, was developed in a power shortage scenario, and it has become redundant because of surplus electricity with the utility. But the fixed charges regime has not undergone any change. The Nepra must look into it,” they said.

The newly-appointed chairman of the Nepra said that most suggestions of the LCCI members were already under consideration of the authority and would soon be decided upon.

“The Nepra was aware of the fact that line losses were either sheer inefficiency or corruption. Wapda must try to keep them at the internationally permissible level. But, unfortunately, it has not been the case.

“Wapda escapes a tough time at most of hearings because of the absence or lack of interest on the part of other stakeholders. Wapda comes up with cogent arguments in its favour and gets decision for itself. It was the duty of every stakeholder to attend tariff petitions and come up with counter arguments,” he said.

APP adds: The Nepra chairman said that private sector power companies would not only bring down the lines losses but would also ensure the fullest recovery of receivables.

“Efficiency in terms of distribution and recovery will ultimately lead to a cut in the power tariff,” he said.

He claimed the Nepra had always tried to consult a cross-section of consumers before taking any decision on Wapda’s petitions regarding the revision of power tariff.

“It is better to explore ways to increase the share of hydel power in the country’s energy mix to the level of 70 per cent from the present 30 per cent.

The Nepra chairman said that a number of sites in the northern areas, the NWFP and the Punjab had been identified for the construction of new water reservoirs to generate hydel power under Wapda’s Vision-2025 plan.

He said that low-head power generation could be carried out even in the plains of the Punjab and Sindh.

“Generation of cheap hydel power is another way to bring down electricity prices,” the Nepra chairman said.

The Nepra was endeavouring to get power tariff reduced by asking the distribution companies to bring down their overhead expenditures.

However, taxes on different levels of oil imports, power generation and distribution also contributed to the exorbitant level of power tariff. He conceded that electricity here was more expensive compared to the other countries of the region, despite surplus generation.

He said that new industrial units did not need any license from the Nepra for self-generation and power utilization within the unit. However, existing industrial units would have to give a three-year notice to Wapda for disconnection from distribution companies, prior to the establishment of a self-generation facility.

He said that applications for self-generation were being processed within 68 days.

The Nepra chairman said that efforts were also being made to review the Wapda Act to make it more compatible with ground realities.

He said that Nepra had requested the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for capacity building of the authority.