1 (18Th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT
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1 (18th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ———— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Monday, the 13th January, 2020 56. *Ch. Aamir Sultan Cheema: (Deferred during 16th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Petroleum Division) be pleased to state: (a) the procedure to give administrative approval for new schemes of natural gas supply; (b) number of schemes of supply of natural Gas approved for NA-91, Sargodha (old NA-67) since 2011; (c) number of schemes completed and pending in the said Constituency so far alongwith reasons thereof; and (d) as to when physical work will start on pending and new schemes of Gas in said Constituency? Reply not received. 74. *Sheikh Rohale Asghar: (Deferred during 16th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Power Division) be pleased to state the increase made in electricity tarrif as well as number of times such increase was made by the present Government till date alongwith the reasons thereof? Minister for Power Division (Mr. Omar Ayub Khan): In terms of second proviso to section 31(7) of the Act 1997, the Authority is required to 2 make adjustments in approved tariff on account of fuel price within a period of seven days on monthly basis. Pursuant to the above proviso, monthly FCA are also charged to consumer as approved by the Authority. It is important to mention here that as the previous Government had not taken any steps for enhancement of rates from 2016 as per tariff structure. Therefore, the present Government was forced to enhance the tariff from 2016 and updated the tariff. The same is being charged on monthly basis. 64. *Ms. Shagufta Jumani: (Deferred during 17th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Power Division) be pleased to state: (a) number of times, the tariff of electricity under any nomenclature thereof, has been increased since August 1, 2018 alongwith justification of each increase; (b) whether it is a fact that Government has decided to collect billions of rupees over and above from consumers on behalf of distribution companies in contrary to original approval of NEPRA; if so, the details and justification thereof; (c) whether such increases and collections are tantamount to system inefficiency and failure of the Government to bring due reforms in power sector; (d) if so, what steps are being taken to fix system inefficiencies of the power sector, and bring due reforms therein, and time by which, benefits of such reform will start paying to consumers? Minister for Power Division (Mr. Omar Ayub Khan): (a) 1. The NEPRA determined tariff of XWDISCOs on December 19, 2018. Which was notified by the Federal Government w.e.f. January 01, 2019. 2. Furthermore, quarterly adjustments from July to December 2018 was decided by the NEPRA on June 14, 2019, which was notified by the GoP w.e.f. July 01, 2019. 3 3. Similarly, XWDISCOs afterwards filed their adjustment requests for the 3rd & 4th quarters of the FY 2018-19 i.e. from Jan. to Mar. 2019 and Apr. to Jun. 2019. Ministry of Energy also requested Interim Indexation for Distribution Margin with instant requests of XWDISCOs. Both the decision were issued by the NEPRA on September 27, 2019, which was notified by the Federal Government w.e.f October 01, 2019. 4. It is important to mention here that as the previous Government has not taken any steps for enhancement of rates from 2016 as per tariff structure. Therefore, the present Government was forced to enhance the tariff from 2016, the same is being charged on monthly basis. 5. It is import mention here that present Government is taking steps to protect Domestic Consumers whom consumption is upto 300 Units, and are 75.% of the Domestic consumption, their tariff is not being increased and no increase in their tariff. (b) 1. National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) is a statutory Regulatory Authority and is responsible for the regulation of the provision of electric power services in Pakistan. The electricity tariff is determined in accordance with the NEPRA Act and Rules made there-under. 2. NEPRA determines different consumer-end for each XWDISCO, owing to their different revenue requirements and allowed level of T&D losses. However, as per the amended NEPRA Act, NEPRA has been mandated to determine a uniform consumer end tariff. 70. *Ms. Asma Qadeer: (Deferred during 17th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Power Division) be pleased to state what measures are being taken for producing energy from Waste, Bio resources, Solar, Wind and Static energy? Minister for Power Division (Mr. Omar Ayub Khan): Generation of cheap electricity utilizing indigenous renewable energy resources including wind, solar, waste-to-energy, biomass etc, is amongst the top priorities of the Government. Significant measures to promote the development of renewable energy based power projects have been taken by the Government. Some of initiatives/ measures taken are as follows: 4 1. New Alternative & Renewable Energy Policy has been formulated targeting a higher share of ARE technologies in the energy mix of 20% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. The policy has an enhanced scope and includes all types of alternative and renewable energy technologies including hybrid configurations. The policy focuses on project development primarily to competitive bidding and also promoting local manufacturing. 2. Several RE projects that had achieved significant project milestones but could not get completed due to certain decisions of the Cabinet Committee of Energy (CCoE) made in December, 2017, have been allowed by the CCoE to complete their projects subject to fulfillment of certain pre-conditions. Accordingly, AEDB is facilitating the projects for their development. Twelve (12) wind power projects with a cumulative capacity of 610 MW have recently achieved financial close of their respective projects. 3. Several studies have been initiated with the support of donor agency with the objective of increasing the share of wind and solar energy in the energy mix of the country and making associated grid augmentations. 4. A study on identifying and developing renewable energy zones has been initiated with the support of World Bank. 5. Development of RPF documents for carrying out competitive bidding for projects falling under category-III of the CCoE decision dated 27th February, 2019 are near completion. 73. *Mr. Murtaza Javed Abbasi: (Deferred during 17th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Power Division) be pleased to state: (a) what was the total MW production of electricity in May, 2018; and (b) how many MW have been increased by the Government since August, 2018? 5 Minister for Power Division (Mr. Omar Ayub Khan): (a) Total MW generated during the month of May, 2018 was 16409 MW (Monthly Average). (b) The details of MW added in the system (including Wind, Hydel and Thermal) having commercial operation date (COD) since August 2018 is attached as Annex-I. (Annexure has been placed in the National Assembly Library) 75. *Ms. Mussarat Rafiq Mahesar: (Deferred during 17th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Power Division) be pleased to state the year-wise detail of increase in per unit price of electricity since 2016 till date? Minister for Power Division (Mr. Omar Ayub Khan): The tariff has been modified in steps as determined by NEPRA but the present Government has protected the interest of domestic consumer’s upto 300 units. It is important to mention here that as the previous Government had not taken any steps for enhancement of rates from 2016 as per tariff structure. Therefore, the present Government was forced to increase the tariff to reduce the buildup of Circular Debt increasing at the rate of Rs. 39 Billion/Month. It has now come reduce to 21 Billion/ Month till June 30, 2019. A subsidy of 226 billion has also been budgeted to insulate vurnable category of consumers from the tariff change/adjustment. 76. *Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel: (Deferred during 17th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Power Division) be pleased to state: (a) whether the concerned authorities of Power Division and NEPRA have taken notice of electrocution of dozens of innocent citizens recently; if so, the details thereof; (b) whether the concerned electricity provider or Federal Government has financially compensated the killed and injured 6 citizens in such incidents of electrocution; if so, the details thereof; and if not, the reasons thereof; (c) time by which, each of above will be financially compensated; and (d) what steps are being taken to improve infrastructure particularly with reference to ensure safety of people? Reply not received. 77. *Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto: (Deferred during 17th Session) Will the Minister for Energy (Power Division) be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that as per report of Ministry of Finance deficit of LESCO, HESCO, QESCO and MEPCO was in billions of Rupees for year 2018-19; if so; (b) what was deficit in year 2017-18 as compare to year 2018-19 in detail? Minister for Power Division (Mr. Omar Ayub Khan): (a) As per Annual Financial statements of the following DISCOs (LESCO, HESCO, QESCO and MEPCO) for the FY 2017-18 & 2018-19, their profit/ (loss) figures are given below: —————————————————————————————— DISCOs FY 2017-18 FY 2018-19 Improvement (Mln. Rs.) (Mln. Rs.) (Mln.Rs.) —————————————————————————————— LESCO (55,176) 8.750 63,926 HESCO (31,160) (7055) 24,105 QESCO (25,166) (5188) 19,978 MEPCO (33,825) (22,782) 11,043 —————————————————————————————— (b) This Government assumed office in August, 2018 and the efforts started in November, 2018. So the result achieved in 2018-2019 are due to untiring efforts by whole of the team in only seven months. 7 81. *Mr.