ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif has said that power sector circular debt has swelled to Rs337.7 billion whereas the total receivables amount to Rs657.3 billion.

At present receivables from the provincial governments stand at Rs104 billion while Rs60 billion and Rs32.5 billion has been outstanding against Azad Jammu Kashmir and Karachi Electric (KESC) respectively,

Khawaja Asif said in a written reply to the National Assembly yesterday.

He said the circular debt takes place mainly due to non-availability of required funds to pay off the liabilities of power generators. Had power sector received its arrears, there would have no issue of circular debt, he added. He said his ministry was pursuing DISCOs vigorously for making speedy recoveries of arrears. Answering another question, he said that electricity has been priced on the basis of usage. Giving details of tariff for different categories, Asif said that the consumers using below 50 units per month are being charged at Rs2.00 per unit.

Those using between 1-100 units are charged at Rs5.79 while those consuming between 101 to 200 units are charged at Rs8.11.

Te tariff for use of 201-300 units per month is Rs10.20 whereas for monthly electricity consumption between 301 to 700 units, the rate is Rs16.00. The consumers who use above 700 units per month are being charged with Rs18.00 for each unit. This price is excluding all taxes and surcharges Ministry of Water and Power charge from all consumers. He said that the disparity among rates is to discourage electricity wastage. "The tariff has been determined to persuade the consumers to use electricity economically, thereby saving the precious energy," Asif said in his reply.

Answering a question regarding illegal appointments in the Islamabad Electric Supply Company, the minister said that in the light of relaxation of ban on daily wages, one hundred and ninety five (195) contingent paid employees have been engaged on daily wages against critical requirement of the core activities.

He mentioned employees' children, women, disable and minority quota was also observed while hiring daily wages employees.

"The Ministry of Water and Power/PEPCO has completed enquiry proceedings and resultantly Manager Human Resource (HR) and three other officers of IESCO have been placed under suspension and disciplinary action has been initiated against them whereas the CEO IESCO was also replaced," Asif told the assembly. He further said that presently the NAB and FIA are investigating the matter.

Answering another question, the minister said that construction work on Diamer Basha Dam could not be started despite approval of PC-I due to non-commitment of funds. He said the government was consistently pursuing donor agencies/International Financing Agencies to finance the project.