The cabinet division has issued a notification for the release of the first installment of payment, which is 40 percent of the due amount, to the independent power producers (IPPs).
Referring to the notification released on May 5, 2021, the cabinet division informed that the agenda was received after the end of the seven-day deadline before the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
Power Division briefed the forum about the case and requested ECC’s consideration for the approval of the release of payment.
The cabinet committee approved the recommendation by the power division and stipulated that the relevant IPPs would be obliged to simultaneously settle their back to back payments to their State Owned Fuel Suppliers, such as PSO, SNGPL, and OGDCL, etc. from the payment received under this summary on a pro-rate (40 percent) basis, as provided in the agreements.
The approved summary also includes the clause whereby the National Accountability Bureau is given the authority to inform the committee if they have any objection to the signing of these agreements and making payments to the IPPs, as the matter of alleged savings in the tariff is already under investigation by the NAB.
The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet had approved payment of the first installment to 35 IPPs out of a total 47, whereas payment to the remaining 12 IPPs (under Power Policy 2002) may be withheld owing to the NAB investigation.
Rooftop solar will kill grid based electricity. Battery and solar prices will decrease and thus people will shift to solar. Pakistani govt will still have high circular debt due to capacity payments.