The issue related to the agreements with the independent power producers (IPPs) would get worse and per unit tariff would reach Rs100 per unit unless its structure and procedures were fixed, PPP Senator Saleem Mandviwalla has said.

“The IPP issue has existed for the last 10-20 years, but no one takes it seriously,” he said while appearing on the New Insight with Amir Zia aired on Aaj News on Monday.

Mandviwalla, who is the Senate Standing Committee on Finance chairman, stated that the “biggest issue” with the IPPs was electricity theft.

“The IPPs are not able to recover the full price of the electricity they generate. The IPP issue is secondary, first, you need to resolve the core problem of electricity theft,” he said.

He added that the entire power sector needed to be reformed, which is the responsibility of the government.

“Neither a forensic audit nor a technical audit of the IPPs is being carried. Their plants are not being inspected, because all of this is a collective conspiracy,” Mandviwalla said and added that revealed that a payment of Rs341 billion was made in just 48 hours.