PESHAWAR: For around seven years, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has been waiting for the federal government agencies to sign an agreement with it to purchase electricity from its Pehur hydropower project.

The 18 megawatts project located downstream of Gandaf pressure tunnel in Swabi district forms the integral part of high-level Pehur canalthat originates from Tarbela dam.

Officials in the KP energy and power department and Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation told Dawn that the Power Purchase Agreement hadn`t been signed due to the delaying tactic on part of the federal government.

The project had become operational on March 1, 2010 and thus, supplying power to 132kv Gadoon grid station, which is operated and maintained by the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco).

The issue of delay in the signing of the PPA was also part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the federal and provincial governments on Feb 25, 2016 to resolve several longstanding issues, including uncapping of net hydel profit (NHP) proceeds.At that time, it was agreed that PPA would be signed by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (Guaranteed) Limited by March 31, 2016, and that it would also incorporate mechanisms for recovery of outstanding amount.

Pedo chief executive officer (CEO) Akbar Ayub blamed the federal government for the delay and said for the last so many years, the provincial government had repeatedly been asking the federal government to sign it but to no avail.

He said his organisation had forwarded the agreement to the federal government but the CPPA-G and Pesco were `playing badminton with it.

`The KP chief minister took up this issue with the federal water and power minister and secretary as it was part of the 24 points MoU signedin February this year,` he said, adding that the federal authorities had assured the provincial authorities of the signing of the agreement by April.

Mr. Ayub said the Pedo had also requested the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to intervene and as a result, the authority directed Pesco to sign the agreement.

He said the federal government had no issues with the signing of PPAs with other producers and its reluctance to do so with KP`s was part of the centre`s `mistreatment of the province`on severalpendingissues.

`We have over Rs1 billion in lieu of the pending amount of tariff determined by the Nepra,` he said.

On January 18, 2010, the Pedo approached the Nepra with a tariffdetermination petition. The authority issued its tariff determination order on Dec 6, 2010 working out the price for the project at Rs4.8 per unit.

However, officials point out that in the absence of a power purchase agreement, the centre is paying the provincial government Rs1 per unit, while the rest of the Nepra determined Rs4.8 amount would be paid once the PPA is signed.

An of ficial at the energy and power department said after the determination of tariff by the Nepra, KP had to sign PPA with the centre.

He said the draft PPA had been sent to the federal authorities but the latter didn`t show willingness to sign it.

The of ficial said unless the PPA was signed, the Pedo has to sell power at Rs1 per unit to the Pesco and even the payments on that account were pend-ing on part of the federal government as their schedule had yet to be decided.

He said following the Feb commitment, the provincial government took up the matter with the centre on severaloccasion butthelatterkept delaying action on it on pretext or the other.

`There is nothing new it. We have been hearing these lame excuses for the last seven years,` he said.

The of ficial said the Wapda was selling electricity generated by KP to its consumers at a rate of Rs8-Rs12 per unit but was unwilling to pay the province its due share in that amount.

He said the power project had been executed up on an irrigation channel and its output went up to 13 megawatts in summer, while they also closed down power generation due to the start of Rabi harvesting season.