LAHORE, May 11: A group of eight independent power producers (IPPs) that has invoked sovereign guarantees for the recovery of their dues of Rs34 billion on Friday demanded that the government should renew the settlement agreements for a period of one year between Jan 1 and Dec 31.

Acceding to the government’s request for delaying legal action till May 16 against it for defaulting on sovereign guarantee, the IPP Advisory Council said the final decision (on payment of their dues to be taken by the Economic Coordination Council on May 15) should clear their capacity payments so that they could pay their debt for the first two quarters of 2012 to June and to O&M contractors and plant insurers.

Further, it said all payments made in future should be split as 80 per cent for energy and 20 per cent for capacity to ensure that power producers remain current on their fixed obligations and do not have to serve notice (to the government) again.