ISLAMABAD: US government on Tuesday expressed interest in assisting Pakistan to formulate national energy policy to tap the country’s renewable power potential and address the electricity system’s inefficiencies.
“United States will explore the ways and means to assist power division in establishment of Pakistan’s first Renewable Energy Institute and also share the expertise of the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory to enable its working as per international standards,” the US Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale said in a government statement.
Hale was meeting with Minister for Power Division Sardar Awais Leghari.
The US envoy further said they would also consider assisting Pakistan in the formulation of national energy policy and national electricity plan. He assured the minister to soon appoint a focal person for energy in the US embassy who will frequently interact with his counterpart at the power division regarding cooperation in the energy sector.
Government is planning to set up a renewable energy institute to identify the country’s energy potential and propose policy initiatives to capitalise on the resources.
Power minister said the government has initiated the process of interaction with all the provinces and the federating units for formulation of energy policy and national electricity plan.
“In this regard the government has also decided to take into consideration various proposals of the power sector potential stakeholders including the service providers during the formulation of the policy and plan,” the statement cited the minister Leghari as saying.
“The minister appreciated the General Electric for its repowering initiative proposal that includes conversion or rehabilitation of the existing power generation units across Pakistan.”
Leghari said that he had asked General Electric to be part of the process of energy policy and electricity plan so that their proposal could be materialised based on the decisions taken.
The minister underscored the need of deep cooperation between Pakistan and USA in the renewable energy sector.
“Renewable energy is the only way forward to meet the energy requirements of Pakistan,” he said. The minister also informed the US ambassador on the progress made so far by the power division for establishment of the renewable energy institute.
Lahore University of Management Sciences has shown keen interest to house the institute, and has sent its proposal in this regard. Higher Education Commission and Alternative Energy Development Board are helping the government identify the university in Pakistan to house the institute.
Meanwhile, power minister directed the chief executive officers (CEOs) of all the distribution companies (discos) to clear the backlog of all the pending faulty meters in their respective areas by 31st March.
Leghari further directed them to adopt the new procedure for new connection based on consumer facilitation associated with application tracking system from March 15. The old system of application will no longer be used after the March 15 deadline.
The power minister, during a meeting, asked CEOs to hire the services of best financial managers to improve the financial health of distribution companies.
“The financial management of the companies is one of the key factors and it needs expert level handling,” another statement quoted the minister as saying.
Leghari directed the CEOs to carefully study the existing rules and regulations relating to tariff implementation at the discos level so that the technical losses due to tariff are eliminated by the end of March this year.
He also directed the discos to start exercise as per the existing set of rules and procedure for application necessary for tariff for the next year “so that the gap between recovery and energy sold may be minimised”.
The minister further directed them to maximise efforts for ensuring 100 percent mobile meter-reading.
He expressed satisfaction over the increase in the mobile meter reading.
As per the new application for new electricity connection, the time for installation of electricity metre has been reduced. Besides the consumers will also have access to the status of their application via the online facilities.
from The News International - Business http://ift.tt/2HQxLz1
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