ISLAMABAD: With the new government looking into various options to cope with the energy crisis, the Supreme Court came up with a suggestion on Wednesday.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry asked Attorney General Muneer A. Malik to seek instructions from federal and provincial governments on the possibility of supplying electricity in bulk directly to the provinces according to their requirements and then deducting the cost at source from their share in the NFC award.
The provincial governments, in charge of maintaining law and order in their provinces, will be responsible for collecting and recovering the dues to ensure smooth supply to consumers who are ready to pay the charges. The federal government through the agencies concerned will then be absolved of all responsibilities and backlash.
The court made the suggestion during the hearing of a case about unprecedented loadshedding in the country.
Both the attorney general and managing director of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) and Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) Zargham Eshaq Khan assured the court that they would look into its suggestion and sought time to get instructions from the government.
Nauman Wazir, a private member in the board of directors of Peshawar Electricity Company (Pesco), informed the court that licences had been issued to a number of leaseholders to generate electricity through small run-of-the-river projects in northern areas having a potential of generating 30,000MW. But instead of raising civil works or installing generating units at the sites, he regretted, the leaseholders were waiting for selling the licences at higher prices to potential investors.
And whenever the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government raised an objection to the delay, the leaseholders obtained stay orders from courts, he said, adding that industrialists from Punjab or any province could get continuous power supply through wheeling charges if they invested in such projects.
He also suggested that instead of using costly furnace oil for thermal power generation, coal-water slurry fuel should be used.
The court asked the Pepco managing director to examine the prospect.
Mr Wazir regretted that there were a large number of defaulters, particularly ordinary consumers in different areas, who were getting electricity but not paying the bills and unless the charges were paid it would not be possible for Gencos (generating companies) to produce electricity.
The court ordered the KP chief secretary to collect the relevant information, including litigation pending in courts, and submit a list along with status and nature of such cases.
The Pepco chief is required to obtain a list from the Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) of the licence holders who had not yet installed the thermal projects. He will also find out reasons why the plants have not been installed.
The court issued notices to the PPIB and AEDB.
Zargham Khan informed the court that two plants — Liberty Power Company and Hubco Narowal — would likely to start production in next two weeks after being paid the required amount of Rs33 billion.
The court asked the NTDC and Discos (distribution companies) tocontinue negotiations with industrialists for the supply of electricity on the formula of equitable distribution to industries and other consumers.
Zargham Khan submitted details of province-wise requirement/demand of electricity and actual supply. It suggested that against a daily requirement of 12,080MW, Punjab was being supplied 7,740MW; Sindh was being supplied 1,403MW against its demand of 2,200MW; KP 1,870MW against a demand of 2,700MW; Balochistan 701MW against its demand of 1,200MW; Islamabad 1,169MW against the demand of 1,600MW; and Azad Kashmir 250MW against the demand of 980MW.
The case will be taken up on June 26.