ByIslamabad: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has sought a recovery plan from the Tribal Areas Electricity Supply Company (TESCO) during the scrutiny of its five-year Investment Plan (2025-26 to 2029-30). NEPRA raised concerns about the potential impact of the withdrawal of tax exemptions for the industry and the lack of widespread meterization among domestic consumers.
Currently, TESCO provides electricity to domestic consumers without meters, with their bills being paid by the federal government. Additionally, industrial consumers in the region are exempted from load shedding.
During the hearing, NEPRA Chairman Waseem Mukhtar questioned TESCO about its plans in the event of the withdrawal of tax exemptions for the industry and the implementation of full meterization for domestic consumers. He also emphasized the importance of third-party verification of Discos’ claimed transmission and distribution (T&D) losses.
NEPRA expressed concern over TESCO’s limited metering system, which is currently confined to only 11 kV feeders. The Authority urged TESCO to accelerate the process of installing meters at the consumer level and at the Continuous Development Plan (CDP) level. Concerns were also raised regarding the 6% annual growth projected in TESCO’s investment plan, given the underutilization of previous plans due to funding constraints and the lack of meterization.
TESCO CEO informed NEPRA that the company’s recovery rate has improved significantly, reaching 95% for metered consumers, a substantial increase from 58% in 2021. He attributed this improvement to the government’s consistent disbursement of funds against consumer billing.
Regarding tax exemptions, the CEO acknowledged that while some speculation exists about the continuation of tax exemptions for the FATA region until 2028, it is unlikely that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will extend these exemptions beyond July 2025 for the industrial sector.
TESCO has also initiated steps to address the issue of meterization, with the installation of meters at all CDP points expected to be completed by June 2025. The company has awarded a contract to M/S Barqaab-PPI-OMS Consortium for consultancy services to calculate T&D losses. The field survey for this study is currently underway, and the results are expected to be shared with NEPRA by the end of the current fiscal year.
