Govt cannot terminate agreements with IPPs: minister

ISLAMABAD: The minister for power has once again ruled out termination of the agreements signed with the independent power producers.

Briefing a meeting of the Senate standing committee on power, Owais Ahmed Khan said that termination of the agreements with IPPs could lead to imposition of international fine on Pakistan.

He said that the IPPs running on natural gas and LNG were paid  538 billion dollars as capacity charges in the past 10 years. Moreover, 760 billion dollars were paid to 13 IPPs that were running on furnace oil.

Addressing the meeting, Senator Mohsin Aziz, who was charing the session, said that the committee had received all the details about the agreements with the IPPs.

He told the meeting that NEPRA had allowed the IPPs only 10 to 15% profit while the record showed the companies drawing profits of 60 to 70%.

The consumers in Pakistan have seen abnormal increase in the electricity tariff for the past a couple of years due to the costly electricity being produced by the private power producing companies.

It is also being alleged that political parties, business tycoons and even some politicians were the beneficiaries of the agreements with the companies.