ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday ordered a probe into sudden emergence of losses worth billions in the Jamshoro Power Company (JPC) and asked the officials concerned to fix responsibility for the fiasco within a fortnight.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari that was convened to review the affairs of public sector generation companies (Gencos).

The meeting was informed that JPC, which runs a 777MW power plant, suffered a loss of Rs2.45 billion during the last fiscal year even though it was earning profits earlier.

The minister directed chief executive officer of the Genco Holding Company to conduct an inquiry into the JPC’s accounts of the last four years and ascertain the reasons for the losses, and identify those responsible within 15 days.

Mr Leghari warned the officials that he would be compelled to call for an external inquiry by the Federal Investigation Agency or the National Accountability Bureau in case of their failure to complete the inquiry within the stipulated time.

He was at a loss to understand how a company could go into losses when it was generating electricity and charging consumers for the power consumed by them, said an official.

He said those attending the meeting thought the loss might have occurred due to fuel oil theft and the inquiry would chiefly be conducted on those lines, besides looking into any other reason, because it was difficult to understand why the company earned profits in 2015 but suffered a loss of Rs2.45bn the very next year.

“Such abrupt changes in profit and loss [usually] have nothing to do with efficiency of the power plants,” he said.

An official statement quoted the minister as saying the customers could not be made to pay for the inefficiency of the power plants or mismanagement of the Gencos.

If inefficient, the power plants should be modernised or closed down because induction of new and efficient plants would leave no room for inefficient plants, said Mr Leghari.

The Jamshoro Power Generation Company Limited (JPGCL) is a 2,344MW combined cycle power plant. According to audit report for 2016-17, the sales of JPGCL decreased to Rs35.81bn during 2016-17 and the company suffered a gross loss of Rs2.45bn which was almost 250 per cent higher as compared to the previous financial year.

With this performance, the company was not able to meet even its breakeven point which was constantly causing an increase in the accumulated losses and liabilities of the company, the audit report observed.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2017