Talking to Business Recorder, Prime Minister's Advisor to Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Asim Hussain said that the issue of furnace oil supply vis-à-vis massive loadshedding in Punjab was discussed in detail at a high-level meeting presided over by the Prime Minister Wednesday night wherein it was decided that PSO should start supply of 22,000 tons furnace oil daily to Gencos.
Presently, hydel generation has dropped to 12,000-1,300 MW due to annual canal closure whereas thermal generation is about 6,500 MW as thermal power plants are not being run at full capacity. The Ministry of Water and Power argues that it is current in payment to PSO but the latter is not supplying the required furnace oil to thermal power stations. Secretary Water and Power, Nargis Sethi took the issue at the meeting as textile sector is accusing Ministry of Water and Power of the current power crisis.
An official of the Ministry of Water and Power told this scribe that the ministry is engaged in arranging liquidity to run the system as installed and generation capacities are available but the main issue is liquidity for generation. Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi, who has been given additional charge of Secretary Water and Power, is spending most of her time in the Ministry of Water and Power personally supervising the bill recovery process considered to be a major reason for the intractable inter-circular debt. "Discos' average per month collection is about Rs 39 billion, ie, Rs 230 billion collection in six months. This implies that the government has to arrange liquidity of Rs 320 billion to run the system during the next six months," said an official on condition of anonymity.