The All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union has called for an IPP power contracts review, urging the government to reconsider what it describes as unfair agreements with independent power producers (IPPs)—private companies that generate electricity—while household power costs remain a public concern.
What the union said in Lahore
At a meeting in Bakhtiar Labour Hall in Lahore, general secretary Khurshid Ahmed asked the government to revisit terms and conditions of the IPP agreements that he called unfair and anti-people, pointing to the economic difficulties faced by the public.
Mr Ahmed said billions of dollars were being paid annually to the IPPs even when their electricity was not purchased. He said the country's power crisis remained unresolved despite those payments.
He also said the increase in power tariffs had become a burden for low-income households. The union presented an IPP power contracts review as necessary relief for consumers under financial strain.
Privatisation plans and the IMF
Mr Ahmed criticised the government's plans to privatise profitable power distribution companies. He expressed concern at what he called haste to assure an IMF delegation—the International Monetary Fund, the lender Pakistan works with—that national assets would be transferred to the private sector at the earliest.
The union's position joins two demands: reopen the IPP agreements, and hold back from selling profitable distribution companies. It framed both as protection for the public rather than as a full new policy plan.
What happens next
The union has asked the government to reconsider the IPP terms it regards as harmful. Whether ministries open formal talks, change payment arrangements, or alter privatisation timelines was not set out at the Lahore meeting.
For now, the clearest signal is labour opposition: workers in the hydro-electric sector want an IPP power contracts review and reject a fast track for privatising profitable distributors while tariff pressure and large yearly payments to IPPs remain central to their case.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Wapda workers ki union ne hukumat se kaha hai ke IPP yani private bijli companies ke muahidon ka jaiza le. Unka kehna hai ke har saal arabon dollar diye jaate hain chahe bijli kharidi na jaye. Gharilon ke liye bijli mehngi ho chuki hai, khas tor par kam aamdani wale logon ke liye. Union profitable bijli distribution companies ki sale ke khilaf bhi hai.
