ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Water and Power said on Tuesday that the proposed amendments to the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act 1997 were being made through a consultative process with the provinces.

In a statement, the power ministry also allayed fears that the reduction in age limit for members and chairman of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) would not be applicable to existing members but come into force with prospective effect on the day of approval of the amended law.

The ministry claimed there was no protest letter from any provincial government over the proposed changes in Nepra law as referred to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by an official of the Nepra. “There was no protest letter from any provincial government and it is a totally baseless notion. In fact the provincial governments’ point of views on proposed amendments were conveyed and duly incorporated,” the ministry added.

It may be noted that Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak had alleged at the public hearing of Nepra a few days ago that decisions of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) were changed repeatedly through minutes of the meeting.

Soon after the hearing, he said at a news conference that he did not give consent for curtailing powers of the regulator.

The ministry said the CCI in its meeting had decided on agenda that a meeting of all the federating units and federal government’s concerned ministries be held immediately to finalise the proposed amendments so that the final draft is submitted to the parliament for due process.

The ministry recalled that “a meeting of all the provinces and the federal government was subsequently held under the chairmanship of federal minister for water and power” which took in-depth stock of the proposed amendments and approved it with necessary modifications. A press release was also issue, the ministry claimed. The said meeting was attended by two chief ministers. “The meeting of the chief ministers was followed by a series of consultative meetings between the provinces and the federal government.

The ministry said the draft bill has to go through the prescribed process under the existing lego-parliamentary set up and it would not have been accepted in the first place for introduction if not approved by the forum competent for it – the CCI.

The ministry said the Nepra official should not have talked about the issue or produced documents in pick and choose manner that may cause damage to the national cause.

The ministry said facts had also been distorted in the briefing. For example, it was totally missed that new powers have been added in the draft amendments for the regulator to have an effective control of the sector and no existing powers of the regulator have either been curtailed or removed. The new amendments also aim to bring qualified and relevant person to the regulator with rich power sector background and experience.

The ministry claimed that proposed amendments were based on detailed deliberations spanning over a year with the regulator, the provincial governments and international legal experts and international assistance partners.

“It is unfortunate that despite most of the regulators comments and inputs being included in the draft submitted to Parliament, Nepra repeatedly distanced itself from the proposed amendments,” the ministry concluded.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2017