Not dancing to the disco beat

The power distribution companies (DISCOs) shocked the Ministry of Water and Power on Thursday when they clearly expressed their helplessness in recovery of over Rs 60 billion dues from provincial government departments of Sindh and Punjab.
An official source said DISCOs expressed their helplessness at a specially convened meeting to review their performance especially the recovery of outstanding dues. Minister for Water and Power, Syed Naveed Qamar directed them for cutting their power supply. However, they said that was not possible as provincial governments start pressurizing them after the move. They proposed cutting of outstanding provincial dues at the federal level. However, the source said Finance Ministry was opposed to the demand arguing that under the 18th amendment that was not possible.
The meeting was informed that the Sindh government had outstanding dues of Rs 45 billion while of Punjab were Rs 15 billion. When they were asked to follow disconnection campaign indiscriminatingly, they said that they could not take the extreme step as the provincial governments fail to provide them protection in case of protest, as already witnessed recently during riots in Punjab.
The Chief Executives of DISCOs of Sindh said that the provincial government had assured them to clear their outstanding dues but considering the huge outstanding amount there was no possibility of any significant payment during the current fiscal year. They demanded intervention by the federal government to resolve the issue. Experts have proposed many times that representatives from the provincial government representatives and local administration should be included in DISCOs board of directors to improve the recovery and curb the massive power theft.
However, the source said the minister directed them that they should strictly implement the decision of disconnection in case of non payment and no leniency should be shown towards the public sector departments. The meeting was informed that the main provincial defaulters were the water supply departments and if their power supply was cut there could be law and order situation.
The meeting also took serious notice of un-metered power supply to some of the provincial and municipal government offices in Sindh. They were getting the facility after the devastating floods of 2010 and 2011 and were not ready to pay for installing new meters. However, the minister asked the CEOs of HESCO and SEPCO to install meters on their own and if there was resistance then disconnect the power supply. He directed that there should be no billing on the basis of load calculation anywhere in the province for any consumers. All the billing should be made on actual use of electricity through metering. The meeting was informed that over all DISCOs have improved their recover as they collected Rs 36.5 billion as against Rs 41.5 billion during February, this year. However, the source said that their recovery of previous outstanding dues remained poor as they managed recovery of only 5 percent.
Warning DISCOs, the minister said to check their unscheduled load shedding a monitoring cell was being established to streamline the load management. He said that due to increase in the power generation, unannounced load shedding has been lifted in the country. He asked them to follow the load management schedule. He directed them that there should be no complaints of inflated bills and officials involved should be taken to task.