Pakistan’s installed capacity of power generation reached 25,100 megawatts in financial year 2016-17 in comparison to 22,900 MW a year ago. This was reported in the Economic Survey 2016-17 which was unveiled by the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday.
According to the survey, the power generation had actually registered a fall in the first 10 months of FY 2016-17 and stood at 85,206 gigawatt hour (GWh). It had been recorded at 101,970 GWh a year ago. Ministry of Water and Power as cited in the report stated bill recoveries from end consumers had reached 94.4pc during the first 10 months of FY 2016-17, the highest recovery rate in the last decade or so. Line losses also decreased to 16.3pc during the period mentioned above.
The report also mentioned that the consumption pattern of electricity had not undergone any change in the last one year but the share in usage of electricity by households in the first 10 months of the FY 2016-17 had actually increased from 46pc to 50pc. And commercial consumer’s consumption rose from 7pc to 8pc and agriculture sector from 9pc to 10pc. The share of hydroelectric power had also reduced in the period under discussion due to less water in rivers and poor weather conditions.
It also mentioned that the power subsidy which had stood at Rs 464b for the power sector in FY 2012 had been gradually brought down to Rs217b by end of FY 2016. The government also laid the claim that the energy sector had always been its highest priority and immediately after coming into power they had retired a circular debt of Rs480 choking the power sector. They also laid the claim that the payable arrears of the power sector had been contained by improving Disco’s performance, rationalizing tariffs and reducing delays in tariff determination, the report concluded.
I wonder if the recoveries are increasing, losses are decreasing, why is the circular debt rising?