K Electric defaults on over Rs1tr in payables to SSGC, PSO
- By Web Desk -
- Oct 07, 2020
KARACHI: K Electric Limited turned out to have been defaulting on over a trillion rupees of payables to Sui Southern Gas Limited and Pakistan State Oil, ARY News reported on Wednesday.
According to the information, the sole power supplier for the metropolis has yet to pay over Rs1 trillion of payables to SSGC for the gas KE consumed to produce electricity.
The sources privy to details have shared that both SSGC and PSO have been facing financial stress over the non-payment of their receivables from KE that the latter has been defaulting on, among other recoverable accounts.
The KE has to pay Rs1.145 trillion to SSGC alone which is the payable sum it has been incurring since 2012 on the account of consuming its gas.
READ: Karachi may face severe gas, electricity load shedding during winter: sources
In spite of the towering payables incurred by the power utility company, the K Electric has not signed an agreement with the SSGC. According to their last agreement, SSGC was to provide a mere 10 MMCFD gas to KE but still the sole power distributor received 190 MMCFD.
The sources have added that the KE promised to chip away on the payables with current payments but it has not kept its promise since 2012.
On the other hand, the power producer has to pay millions of rupees to PSO on account of the gasoline as well. The amount it has to pay off to PSO to clear the balance sheet is Rs80.9 million.
It may be pertinent to note that gas and electricity crisis will probably worsen during the upcoming winter season for both residents and industries across Karachi and other parts of the Sindh province due to acute shortage of gas.
According to sources, the gas load shedding would witness a surge during the upcoming winter season in the province that could possibly face a shortage of 300mmcfd.