LAHORE: The Managing Director of Pakistan Electric Power (PEPCO) Rasul Khan Mahsud has said that the industry is not suffering from load-shedding and their entire power requirements are being met by PEPCO.
He was talking to an eleven member delegation of Steel Melters Association led by Masood Gul, who called on him at the WAPDA house today.
Dilating on the present power situation in the country, the MD PEPCO expressed the need to realistically deal with the crisis and implement difficult decisions.
Mahsud urged the nation to discipline itself and utilise the available energy responsibly. He believed that this would help conserve energy and overcome the prevalent energy challenge.
Mahsud said that government is fully aware of the importance of industry and assured that industrial sector would not be subjected to load-shedding in the event of any gap between demand and supply in future.
Talking to the delegation Mahsud maintained that we should face the energy challenge collectively as a nation and resist temptation to guard our vested interests at the cost of national interest.
Mahsud said while PEPCO endeavors to provide uninterrupted power supply to the industrial sector, it is also cognizant of the difficulties and responsibilities towards its lifeline consumers who consume less than 50 units.
Masood Gul apprised PEPCO MD of the difficulties faced by the steel manufactures due to high tariff rates. Masood Gul informed the Managing Director that the steel melters were contributing Rs 25 billion per annum as revenue and that there were hardly any complaints of theft against them. Gul said that that the current economic situation had affected their business and demand of steel had dwindled.
This, he said had affected the financial health of the steel industry. Gul requested the Managing Director PEPCO to review the present tariff being charged to the steel industry.
The managing director said that he was sympathetic to the problems faced by steel industry and was of the view that the industrial sector should be given top priority and necessary concessions as they played a pivotal role not only in the growth of the economy but also created employment opportunities.
However, Mahsud said that issue of tariff should be taken up with NEPRA by the Steel Melters Association as it was responsible for determining the power tariff. He however assured the Steel Melters Association that he would take up their case at the proper forum.
