The News reported that the total amount that the Pakistan Electric Power Company has to pay to various entities stands at PKR 185 billion against total receivables of PKR 196 billion.

Company officials said that this payable amount on part of the company makes it inactive to buy the fuel for its power plants, which would ultimately result in closure of power plants leading to further rise in electricity shortage and power outages.

Currently the AES Pakgen power plant is shut and Saba Power is near closure for want of fuel. Official record of PEPCO available with The News on Tuesday shows that the company has to pay PKR 18.4 billion to the different gas companies at present. On 1st of March the amount was PKR 18.1 billion and only PKR 900 million were given to the gas companies in the month of March.

PEPCO owes PKR 6 billion to Mari Gas, PKR 4 billion to PPL, PKR 2 billion to SNGPL and PKR 6 billion to SSGC at present. In the oil sector, PEPCO owes PKR 23 billion to PSO and PKR 2 billion to Attock Petroleum Limited. PSO dues were PKR 25 billion on March 1st around PKR 4 billion were paid during the month but no money was paid to APL and its debt lies at PKR 2 billion at present.

Company record showed that PEPCO owes PKR 91 billion to the Independent Power Producers. The amount was PKR 87.5 billion on 1st of March and there was an addition of PKR 27 billion in the March and the company had paid PKR 24 billion to the IPPs in March.

PEPCO officials explained that PEPCO owes PKR 37 billion to HUBCO. The amount was PKR 38 billion in the start of March and the company paid a total of PKR 5 billion to HUBCO during the month. Due to this debt, the respective IPP would not be in a position to pay the money to the oil refineries and PSO and so the PSO and the refineries won’t be able to pay to the importers. A continuous stall in the supply of oil is seen due to this circular debt.

(Sourced from www.thenews.com.pk)