ISLAMABAD-The federal government has evolved a strategy for the recovery of outstanding electricity dues of hundreds of billions of rupees from various federal and provincial governments departments and has decided to deduct the amount from the budget allocations of the concerned defaulter departments.
The Ex-Wapda Distribution Companies (XWDiscos) will not cut off connections for non-payment of electricity connections of defaulting government institutions, and instead the outstanding amount will be deducted from their budgets, official source told The Nation. Under the strategy, there will be no need to cut off electricity meters of government offices for non-payment as the amount will be automatically deducted from their budgets, said the source.
The provincial government will be taken onboard, so they will deduct the amounts from the budgets of their respective departments, said the source. According to the sources, the government departments and private consumers owe more than Rs 1500 billion to XWDiscos. It is worth mentioning here that as of September 2023 the receivables of just one Disco Islamabad Electric Supply Company against the federal, provincial and Azad Kashmir governments were Rs71.519 billion.
According to the details, Azad Kashmir government, federal, provincial government and semi-government institutions are electricity defaulters of IESCO of Rs71.519 billion. Azad Kashmir government has to pay Rs 60.706 billion for the electricity to IESCO while the federal government institutions have to pay Rs10.276 billion and the provincial government institutions have to pay Rs 538 millions. The government institutions situated in IESCO Islamabad circle owe Rs 7.948 billion, Rawalpindi city circle Rs 1.372 billion, Rawalpindi Cantonment circle Rs 35.222 billion, Chakwal circle Rs 39 million, Attock circle Rs 8 million and Jhelum circle Rs 27.218 billion, said the spokesman. The AJK government owes the highest dues of Rs 60.706 billion, followed by Defence Rs 3.140 billion, and Capital Development Authority Rs 3.081 billion, according the data available with The Nation. Pak Secretariat owes Rs 873 million, Prime Minister Secretariat Rs 62 million; Parliament Lodges Rs 119 million, hospital under federal government Rs 371 million, Chief Justice of Pakistan Rs 7 million, Islamabad High Court Rs 10 million. Spokesman IESCO was contacted for the latest figures of the defaulters but he didn’t reply till the filing of this report.