LAHORE: Following grave concerns expressed by the Boards of Directors (BoDs) and fearing resistance during a scheduled meeting, the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) has delayed signing of agreements among the Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC), all power distribution and generation companies (Discos and Gencos) and the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC).

The Power Division also started reviewing the agreements under which the affairs of Discos and NTDC are to be controlled by the PPMC, formerly known as the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), Dawn learnt on Saturday.

Meeting slated for Dec 22 was abruptly put off at the eleventh hour; NTDC fears backlash

“The Power Division had invited CEOs/MDs of all Discos and NTDC to a meeting scheduled on Dec 22. During the meeting, the CEOs/MDs were supposed to sign agreements for a period of 10 years on behalf of their organisations and BoDs with the PPMC. However, suddenly on Dec 21 evening, the ministry postponed the meeting after it received a negative feedback from some of the BoDs on various clauses of the agreements that fully empower the PPMC to rule Discos, Gencos and NTDC,” an official source told Dawn.

“There are also reports that the CEOs/MDs of various companies have been advised by their respective BoDs to not attend the meeting. [The head were told that] if any pressure is mounted by the ministry to attend the meeting, they must avoid signing the agreements,” the official requesting anonymity claimed.

According another official source, the autonomous bodies/organisations such as companies, authorities, etc, under the Corporate Governance Rules, are supposed to be governed independently since they have their own BoDs having representation of public and private departments concerned.

“Therefore, the formation of PPMC after dissolving Pepco to monitor and intervene into the affairs of Discos, Gencos and NTDC is absolutely wrong and unjustified,” he added.

The ministry, on the other hand, says the dynamics of the power sector require dedicated institutional capacity for providing support to the government in development of policies, strategic plans, frameworks, cross-sectoral and cross value chain integration and performance monitoring and reporting on strategic initiatives.

Under its various functions, the PPMC would continue to charge a fee to Discos, Gencos and NTDC as determined by its BoD from time to time.

“In pursuance of these decisions, all boards of Discos, Gencos and NTDC are required to comply with the planning and monitoring agreement with PPMC along with authorising the respective CEO/MD to the sign the same. The signing of agreements between PPMC and All Discos, Gencos and NTDC would be held on December 22 at 11am in the committee room of Power Division, Islamabad,” read a recent letter from the Power Division sent to the Discos, Gencos and NTDC.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2021