August 17, 2016
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said that masses are paying one of the highest prices for the solar power which merits probe.
Highest solar power tariff is not only sending wrong signals but also scaring away serious investors which can hit the future of solar power in Pakistan, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that steps should be taken immediately before some of the solar power plants become highly controversial as the Nandipur power project.
He said that internationally the solar power tariff hovers around Rs4 in local currency while NEPRA had determined tariff up to Rs 17 which is violation of international norms and practices while it is against the interests of masses
Later The NEPRA reduced tariff the Rs 11 but some of the investors continue to get high price which very  surprising and while country is paying Rs 17 per unit to the producers of country’s largest solar power plant located in Bhawalpur.
Now the others who are investing in solar energy are being pushed to lower tariffs which clearly indicate discrimination on the part of authorities that is sending wrong signals, he noted.
He said that some of the solar power agreements were signed and power tariff was fixed as highest in the world at a time when prices of solar machinery and electricity were going down.
Now NEPRA is trying to reduce tariff but it is the same institution which allowed higher tariffs which is corruption that must be probed and responsible should be brought to book.
Plunder in the name of resolving energy crisis should not be allowed as it hurt masses and scare serious investors, he demanded.
