Though IESCO has clinched top position in annual performance report of NEPRA , yet power distributing companies (DISCOs) working in three provinces including Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh showed worst financial losses more than Rs 25 billion during financial year (FY) 2014-2015.
National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has issued annual performance report (APR) of all power distribution companies (DISCOs) of FY 2014-2015 and declared positions of DISCOs as per their performance. “The performance ranking was restricted to only four parameters i.e. T&D losses, recovery, time frame for new connections and safety,” NEPRA said in its report. According to NEPRA report, Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) has clinched 1st position owing to its plausible performance in losses, recovery, & time frame for new connection. IESCO secured 1st position owing to its plausible performance in losses, recovery, & time frame for new connection as reported by it in its APR.
GEPCO & MEPCO got same marks but they were assigned 2nd & 3rd positions respectively keeping in view, the number of fatal accidents in these distribution companies. Further, while ranking the distribution companies, safety has been given more importance & distribution companies having more than 2 fatal accidents, have been awarded zero marks. LESCO achieved 4th and FESCO 5th position due to high percentage of non-compliance in time frame for new connections. Similarly K-Electric, Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO), (Hyderabad Electricity Supply Company (HESCO)& Quetta Electricity Supply Company (QESCO) have acquired 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th positions respectively.
QESCO has acquired 9th position mainly due to poor recovery. It is important to note that SEPCO (Sukkur Electric Power Company) remained last (10th) position due to its poor performance primarily in the segments of losses & time frame for new connections.
According to NEPRA, the APRs for the year 2014-15, submitted by the distribution licensees, were reviewed on the basis of parameters namely, transmission and distribution losses, recovery, System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), time frame for new connections, load shedding, complaints, safety and fault rate. About Transmission & Distribution Losses (T&D Losses) of DISCOs, NEPRA said it was observed that except IESCO, all the distribution companies fell short of achieving the prescribed targets to varying degrees.
In particular, PESCO, QESCO, HESCO, SEPCO and K-Electric lagged far behind the NEPRA’s prescribed targets. Power sector regulator (NEPRA) has also noted that full recovery of electricity bills remained an elusive goal for most of the distribution licensees, except FESCO (100%), MEPCO (100%) and IESCO (99.8%). QESCO in particular showed the worst recovery rate at 32.6%.
Raising concerns over transmission and distribution losses (T&D Losses) of DISCOs, NEPRA said the data for 2014-15 shows that except IESCO, all the DISCOs have breached the individual targets set by NEPRA. SEPCO showed the worst performance in this regard followed by PESCO, K-Electric, QESCO and HESCO.” While the reasons for failure to achieve NEPRA’s target vary from DISCO to DISCO, generally these include terrain, length of the line, old and deteriorating network and theft etc,” said NEPRA report.
It is observed that IESCO, PESCO, HESCO & K-Electric have submitted that more than 95% of applied connections were provided to consumers in 2014-15. On the other hand, GEPCO, FESCO, LESCO, MEPCO, QESCO and SEPCO have not been able to achieve the targets, NEPRA said.