*Cabinet committee tells auditors to ascertain in clear terms if advance or over-billing of electricity actually occurred
Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar Saturday directed auditors concerned to ascertain in clear terms whether advance or over-billing to power consumers had actually occurred.
During the committee meeting chaired by Dar, the auditors were directed to present their findings before the Cabinet Special Committee on Power as soon as possible so that a consolidated report could be prepared and presented before the Cabinet.
The committee also reviewed the implementation of the Cabinet’s decision regarding adjustment of excessive power bills.
The auditors briefing the committee about their report on the issue of over-billing and also answered the committee’s querries.The auditors were also assigned additional tasks by the finance minister.
Speaking on the occassion, Dar said that in the past fourteen months, the government had been able to considerably bring down the subsidy for the power sector and had budgeted it at Rs 180 billion.
“The amount saved has been diverted for development works especially in the energy sector,” said the finance minister.
Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan, Minster for Textile Industry Abbas Khan Afridi and other senior officials also attended the meeting.