LAHORE: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has called a meeting of the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the power distribution companies (Discos) of Punjab in the PM House in Islamabad today (Friday).

“It is the first meeting the prime minister will hold with the heads of Discos. Initially, the heads of all Discos were called in the meeting but later the plan was changed to hold an interactive session with the CEOs of the companies based in Punjab,” said an official of the ministry of energy.

He said the State Minister of Water and Power Abid Sher Ali will be unable to attend the meeting since he is reported to be abroad.

The federal secretaries for both water and power divisions, Yousaf Naseem Khokhar and Arif Ahmad Khan, and some other senior officials concerned would also be unable to attend the meeting since they all are in United States these days to appear in the hearing of various water-related issues with India.

“They (the CEOs) have been asked to present presentations related to their company’s performance indicators, issues, challenges, achievements, recommendations etc in the meeting with the PM who also heads the ministry’s petroleum division,” the official explained.

“PM Abbasi wants to know the ground realities related to the power distribution, system constraints, issues and achievement,” the official said while requesting anonymity.

He said there were many problems Discos continued to face and report to the ministry from time to time. Similarly, there were many jobs the Discos were assigned to accomplish and their current status would also been seen, he said.

The major issues Discos have been facing include the non-payment of Rs3 per unit subsidy they gave to the industrial consumers under Industrial Support Package and non-payment of bills by tube well consumers, according to the official sources.

“Though Discos have already reported to the ministry about giving a huge subsidy/rebate to the industrial consumers in the monthly bills, the government is yet to reimburse this amount to the companies,” the official added.

The PM would also be briefed on the system constrains prevailing in the power distribution, transmission, supply and dispatch systems and the jobs done by the respective organisations to remove these.

“The PM during meeting may also seek proposals from the participants for accomplishing various tasks on fast track,” the official added.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017