Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari denounced on Sunday the abysmal performance of the ministry of water and power as reported by the power sector regulator NEPRA, says a press release issued on Sunday.
He further said that after the scandalous Nandipur and Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park projects, both of which have become liabilities for the government, the NEPRA annual report laid bare all the inefficiencies, mismanagement and corrupt practices of the present incumbents and exposed the government’s total failure to address the problems as it had promised in 2013 elections.
The NEPRA report states that the ministry of water and power has failed to check the underutilization of power generation companies (GENCOs) and corrupt practices of distributing companies (DISCOs) which have been covering their mismanagement by robbing the consumers by over-billing as 70 percent of the inspected meters are found faulty by the regulators, he said.
To add insult to injury, instead of putting its house in order the ministry of water and power was now calling for explanations of NEPRA, which was ironical as it was the ministry which had to give explanation to the nation, the PPP chairman said.
“Will the ministry explain why, despite massive oil price falls, electricity is still unaffordable for the consumers? Will it also explain why the power companies are hiding their inefficiencies and line losses by overcharging the consumers due to faulty metering? Will it inform the nation why Gencos are working under capacity and why the government is forcing shutdowns of power companies, including Nandipur?”
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari demanded of the ministry of water and power to compensate the consumers who have been overbilled and honestly inform the nation about the true picture of the power sector failures.
