Provinces told to pay Rs150bn dues to avoid power cut

The federal government on Thursday asked all the four provincial governments to clear their electricity bills amounting to Rs150 billion in order to avoid power cuts and financial loss to the national economy. In separate letters, Power Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari sought personal intervention of the four chief ministers to help clear dues outstanding against their departments. He warned that “with limited financial resources available with Distribution Companies (Discos), it would be very difficult to continue uninterrupted electricity supply, not to speak of financial losses to the federal government and the ensuing circular debt which is devouring our economy”. According to these letters, Sindh tops the list with payables totalling Rs59.68bn as of September this year, followed by Balochistan’s Rs39.6bn and Punjab’s Rs38.01bn. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the lowest electricity payables amounting to Rs8.88bn.