The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) interim president, Abdul Mohamin, has demanded that information on contracts with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) be made publicly available.
Mohamin announced at a press conference on Monday that IPPs are getting capacity payments to the tune of Rs 150 billion a month, which includes payments to partially and non-operational facilities.
“If any irregularities are discovered, Pakistan can seek recourse through international courts,” he said, calling for a forensic examination of all IPPs.
Mohamin pointed out that excessive power bills have resulted in a large number of commercial and industrial closures.
“An IPP that was set up with 50 billion rupees has been paid 400 billion rupees in total. Industries would be compelled to close if power prices keep rising since the current scenario is unsustainable,” he said.
Reexamining agreements with IPPs, he recommended that units that now use imported coal convert to domestic coal.
Mohamin claims that 20% of IPPs are held by Chinese people while 52% are controlled by the government. He pushed for a review and, if required, renegotiation, demanding openness in the terms and circumstances of these agreements.
“The details of the deals should be made public, including which agreements were made over which periods and under what conditions,” he stated.
In addition, Mohamin said that IPP owners were taking advantage of the people, saying that “IPP owners have sent their children abroad in anticipation of the situation’s deterioration.”
He emphasized that the amount paid to IPPs surpasses the national defense budget, saying, “Capacity charges are Rs2,600 billion, while the defence budget is Rs2,200 billion.”
Referring to statistics from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), the former caretaker minister for commerce and industries, Dr. Gohar Ejaz, said yesterday that at least four power plants, getting a monthly allocation of Rs. 10 billion, are operating without producing any energy at all.
NEPRA statistics from January to March of this year was cited by Ejaz in a post on X (previously Twitter) on Sunday, where he also pointed out that a substantial amount of the nation’s energy budget is being misallocated.
NEPRA paid several Independent Power Producers a total of Rs150 billion in capacity payments per month during this time.
