ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: The ministry of water and power informed the National Assembly on Monday that the companies supplying electricity across the country had Rs232 billion outstanding against private and public sector consumers.

According to a written reply from Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar in response to a question of Parveen Masood Bhatti of the PML-N, the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company has recoverable bills of Rs20 billion against the public sector organisations and Rs11.263 billion against private consumers.

The Sukkur Electric Supply Company has to recover Rs29.7 billion from private consumers and Rs18 billion from the public sector.

Officials of the ministry have blamed political influence for poor recovery both in Hyderabad and Sukkur. The Quetta and Peshawar electric supply companies have been facing difficulties in recovering from private consumers Rs46 billion and Rs36 billion, respectively, and Rs3.77 billion and Rs5.5 million from government consumers, respectively.

Poor law and order in Quetta and Peshawar has been held responsible for dismal recovery from consumers.

According to the minister, the Lahore Electric Supply Company has to recover Rs4.4 billion from private consumers and Rs3.54 billion from the public sector.

The Gujranwala Electric Supply Company has Rs678 million outstanding against private consumers and Rs1.7 billion against government departments. The Faisalabad Electric Supply Company has to recover Rs882 million from private consumers and Rs50 million from government organisations.

The Islamabad Electric Supply Company has to recover Rs12.2 billion outstanding against government consumers and Rs496 million against private consumers.

The Multan Electric Supply Company has to recover Rs2.5 billion from private consumers and Rs1.2 billion from the public sector.

The Tribal Electric Supply Company has to recover Rs31.3 billion from private consumers and Rs806 million from government consumers.