National Assembly Committee Launches Investigation into IPP Overbilling and Performance Issues

Islamabad: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Energy (Power Division) has expressed serious concerns about overbilling and the performance of Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The Committee has resolved to seek a comprehensive briefing from IPPs in their upcoming meeting.

The Committee convened its third meeting today at 10:30 a.m. in the Parliament House, Islamabad, under the chairmanship of Mr. Muhammad Idrees, MNA.Education Ministry to launch project for equipping children with emerging skills

The Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) presented an overview of the issues related to overbilling and unannounced electricity outages in Karachi. He explained that electricity generation in Karachi primarily relies on costly thermal resources.

Despite this, the government’s uniform tariff policy mandates the same price for electricity nationwide. To mitigate the high generation costs in Karachi, the government provides subsidies to K-Electric. The Committee expressed significant concerns about the practices of IPPs and decided to request a detailed briefing from them in the next session.

The CEO of K-Electric reported that the company is struggling with substantial financial losses due to an increasing number of defaulters. He highlighted that these financial challenges are affecting their ability to deliver reliable and affordable energy. However, he noted that since privatization, K-Electric has added 2,000 MW to the National Grid and reduced its losses from 40% to 15%.

In response to queries about overbilling, the CEO of HESCO stated that no overbilling issues have been reported within their jurisdiction. Any individual billing errors are investigated and corrected according to standard procedures. He also mentioned that 91.8% of complaints related to overbilling have been successfully resolved.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed, Raja Qamer ul Islam, Chaudhry Naseer Ahmed Abbas, Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar, Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan, Mr. Muhammad Shahryar Khan Mahar, Mr. Khurshid Ahmed Junejo, Mr. Nauman Islam Sheikh, Syed Abar Ali Shah, Syed Waseem Hussain, Mr. Junaid Akbar, Mr. Sher Ali Arbab, and Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar. Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Khan and Syed Rafiullah, MNA’s/Movers, were also present. Senior officials from the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) and its affiliated departments were also in attendance.