TOBA TEK SINGH: The caretaker government is not realising the gravity of the situation as public protests across the country against power bills may take a serious turn, warns the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“It is the fundamental responsibility of the FCCI to convey ground realities to the government and help it resolve the issue well in time,” chamber president Dr Khurram Tariq told a news conference in Faisalabad on Thursday.

He suggested the government to defer capacity payments to the IPPs in prevailing circumstances and give immediate relief to the inflation-hit masses.

He said the electricity crisis worsened when the government enhanced the tariff from Rs 19.4 to Rs 44 per unit. Later, the base rate also added fuel to fire.

The FCCI chief said there was no set formula to work out the electricity cost. “Some people using 300 units get Rs 14,000 bill, others (with same units) are charged Rs. 18,000 and 36,000.

Dr Tariq said critical analysis showed 70pc of total billed amount went to IPPs as capacity payment. He urged the government to issue a white paper clearly indicating which government had signed the deals with IPPs and how much amount had been paid to these units under the head of capacity payment since 1994.

He said universally acceptable transmission and distribution losses were around 10pc but in Pakistan losses were to the tune of Rs 530bn. He also opposed free energy to all institutions.

He said exports had declined from from 15 to 20pc and if we lost hard-earned markets, the economic crisis would become more complicated.

He urged the government to negotiate with the chambers as they were ready to give a presentation and convince the IMF on this issue. He said the IMF had clamped restrictions on subsidies but it would have no objection to deferment of capacity payments to IPPs.

He said feeders with more than 10pc power theft might be blocked to build public pressure on the power pilferers.

Dr Tariq said FCCI was an apolitical organisation and “we will not participate in any politically-motivated protests”.

Senior Vice President Dr Sajjad Arshad said the FCCI represented 118 trade bodies and we would prefer to resolve the issue through negotiation and peaceful protest.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2023