Islamabad:
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) called on Tuesday details of the top 300 default holders, as both public and private units owe trillion to power distribution companies (discos).
Due to the lack of discos to recover outstanding quota, national taxes have some losses of RS877 billion.
A PAC meeting, chairman of Junaid Akbar, reviewed audit objections in connection with the Power Division for the financial year 2023-24.
The meeting was estimated that discos had pending recovery of over RS877 billion from defaults in the financial year 2022-23.
An audit report revealed huge outstanding quota across different power distribution companies (discos). In Fesco, 513 consumers owe a total of RS2.47 billion. Hesco has 5,900 consumers with unpaid quota of RS44.46 billion.
Meanwhile, Lesco is on arrears of RS16.1 billion from 3,736 consumers. Pesco has 824 consumers who owe RS8.6 billion, while Qesco’s outstanding quota stands on a staggering RS603.35 billion from 2,428 consumers.
SEPCO is due to RS119,837 billion of 342 consumers. Tesco has 146 consumers with unpaid bills totaling RS6.17 billion. Meanwhile, IESCO’s outstanding quota amounts to RS200 million from 142 consumers. Auditing officials informed the committee that 118 letters had been sent to the Power Division for Restore Efforts, with Qesco having the highest number of unresolved cases.
During the session, committee member Khalid Magsi expressed frustration over the Balochistans worsening law and order situation and claiming that movement in the province has become almost impossible.
He said people in Balochistan have no option than to pick up weapons and claim that, among other things, operators roam freely on the streets.
He also claimed that Restore in Quetta was no longer possible, saying that the Balochistani government itself was the biggest defaulter.
In response, the Power Division Secretary stated the committee that discos have submitted working documents for recovery of RS162 billion that promised personally to monitor progress.
The PAC chairman instructed the accountant to verify the requirement of the next session and ordered the Power Division to complete two departmental account committees (DACS) each month with a monthly report on recovery.
The committee also examined the discos’ failure to remove outdated electrical equipment and recover outstanding quota exceeding the RS501 billion.
It was revealed that Disco officers had used free electricity, which prompted the power secretary to announce that the federal government has decided to interrupt free electricity units.
