The parliamentarians and even the government officials in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries and Production criticised the policy change over ‘net metering’ by NEPRA.
The Committee held here on Monday was chaired by Syed Hafeezuddin of MQM, who raised the issue of changes in the net metering policy to net billing by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
Read More: Nepra Moves To Protect Existing Solar Net Metering Consumers
“This amendment in the policy will have serious implications on the overall reputation of the government,” Mr Hafeezuddin said, adding, “When the regulator can honour the commitments made to the IPPs, they should also respect the response by industries and individuals over the net metering policy.”
He added that the industrial units opted for this policy and invested in solar power systems, – “But it was after the policy was introduced by the government now they have been left in confusion.”Members of the committee and even the secretary Industries, expressed concerns that this move would shatter the trust of investors in government policies as well as push the industries back from adopting new technologies really to energy.
The committee noted that the premise used by Nepra to convert net metering to net billing is based without any rational study by the power ministry.“Pakistan needed to promote solar and other clean energy for the industries, it will also help reduce the cost of doing business in the long term basis,” Mr Hafeezuddin added.
The key agenda of the meeting was to review and approve the ongoing development projects under the various departments of the ministry of industries. After strict scrutiny of the project and committee turned down a large number of projects demanding the monitoring report from the planning commission over them.
The delay in completion and cost escalation for most of the projects irked the members of the committee.“I know and I understand that covid – dollar crises and change in government had some impact in all matters,” Dr Mehreen Bhutto said, “But all projects have been delayed by 6 to 9 years and the briefs given to us are always incomplete- why is that so?”Members of the committee including Abdul Hakeem Baloch and Shahid Usman contradicted the claims made by the departments under the ministry of industries regarding several development projects.
Responding to the projects in Hub Balochistan and Karachi, chairman of the committee reprimanded the officials that he had been to these areas and the ground reality was different.While, Shahid Usman had a different picture of the projects in Gujaranwala, and Dr Bhutto highlighted that the briefs presented to the committee lacked the basic details.“
There is no mention of Rupees in million or billion in the brief, the details are incomplete,” she added.The committee members noted that departments opt to go for new buildings and purchase of land for projects instead of using the land of non-functioning state owned enterprises (SOE).“
It is understandable why the SOE are making losses,” Mr Hafeezuddin said. The committee also discussed the case of a former employee of Engineering Development Board (EDB) Engineer K.B Ali, who was transferred back to his parent department but he has approached the court of law and obtained stay order.
