LAHORE - The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) has asked the Punjab government to pay the outstanding amount of Rs 2.55 billion so that the balance amount could be adjusted accordingly to settle the issue related to electricity dues. The Pepco in a press release said the Punjab government has been asked to pay the outstanding amount so that the balance amount could be adjusted accordingly to settle the issue. The press release added: Electricity duty is also paid by PEPCO to the provincial governments and all the government departments pay their electricity dues to PEPCO. As regards electricity duty to be paid to Punjab govt, the electricity duty is Rs.02b, whereas outstanding amount to be paid by Punjab govt to PEPCO is Rs.2.554 billion. Punjab government has been requested to pay the outstanding amount so that the balance amount could be adjusted accordingly to settle the issue. However the action is still awaited. The Pepco further said that it is maintaining liaison through effective coordination with all the federal and provincial departments, related ministries, oil and gas companies, IPPs, chambers of commerce, traders associations and industrial estates to develop speedy communication network for smooth power distribution and load management. All provincial governments are in contact through PEPCO head office and respective Distribution Companies and regular coordination meetings are carried out with concerned departments like, City Development Authorities, WASA and provincial electricity departments. Technical, administrative and financial matters are discussed for resolving them through this process and developmental projects are planned, approved and executed. MD PEPCO has also planned open forums for addressing public grievances. Recently Governor Punjab also chaired a coordination meeting of all the service providers and administrative departments for formulating plans for public convenience. More over, according to the latest load situation, total electricity demand touched the figure of 15346 MW on 13 July 2009 and a deficit of 2001 MW was managed which was 3826 MW on the same date last year. Efforts are also being made to complete the repair work at Mangla powerhouse at the earliest for complete restoration of electricity supply to bridge the demand and supply gap. A total of 770 MW were exported to KESC on 13 July 2009, whereas last year the export was also 590 MW on the same date.