The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) decided on Friday not to amend or review its annual report 2014-15 exposing several deficiencies in the power sector, despite reservations expressed by the Ministry of Water and Power.A meeting of Nepra members, presided over by its Chairman retired Brig Tariq Sadozai, also took exception to questions raised by the ministry about credentials of the regulator and its members, most of them appointed by the present government. Nepra’s annual report, on the other hand, raised important technical issues in the power sector, including overbilling through time-of-use meters, which are used by a very small number of consumers in any event, as well as questions regarding the choice of power plant to operate given the variable levels of their efficiency.The water and power ministry has questioned Nepra’s capacity to draw the conclusions it has in the annual report. As if to underline the ministry’s objections, Nepra has reportedly refused to undertake a technical audit of a number of power plants. It says that it does not have the mandate to perform such an exercise.The ministry, in a separate request, had asked the regulator to undertake an energy cost audit of various power producers to determine which ones were operating at their stated level of efficiency, and therefore what adjustments might be necessary to their tariffs.The all-round failure of independent bodies, whether government, semi-government, independently constituted inquiry commissions or private-sector companies, to probe various issues in the country’s power generation shows the sheer opacity under which the entire power sector operates. Transparency is needed in every area of the sector, from technical audits of generation to transmission and distribution issues, to billing and recoveries, so that a reliable picture can be built of the state of affairs within the sector.But regrettably, given the present circumstances, the events of the past few weeks show that such a picture is totally absent today. The power sector is far too large an entity to be centrally controlled by a couple of ministers and the bureaucracy.It needs institutional reforms that create the right incentives to maximise efficiency and minimise costs. Strengthening the regulator and increasing the role of private-sector professionals in the running of the sector as a whole are crucial ingredients of such a reform effort, but sadly, they appear to be a distant dream at the moment.
pk.shafaqna.com
