Islamabad:
The electricity division said on Tuesday that it was not planned to impose a supplement on electricity bills to support the cost of commercial loans contracted at banks to remove the circular debt.
An official of the Division of Power revealed it during a public hearing led to examine a motion of the division requesting a pricing reduction of up to Rs1.15 per unit due to a rebasage. The division informed the hearing that the average national rate would be reduced by RS32.73 per unit to Rs31.59 per unit – a drop in RS1,14. The officials said that the basic rate for all consumers, with the exception of living line consumers, would drop from RS1,15 per unit.
Tanveer Bari, representing the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, raised the question of a new power supplement on electricity bills. He argued that the government would give relief from RS1,15 per unit, but at the same time, it was preparing to slap an additional RS3.23 per unit due to loans contracted in banks.
He said that the supplement could increase in the case of lower electricity consumption. Bari protested against having given a single day to examine the motion and other people also approached the Nepra, asking her to give at least seven days in this regard.
He pleaded the regulator not to approve the petition, adding that the government had claimed a great relief following agreements with independent power producers, but in reality, it was a very thin relief.
He also criticized the growing fixed charges for industries and required the abolition of a ceiling on the measurement of the solar net to stimulate industrial activities.
Another worker Amir Sheikh wondered about the relief granted to consumers. Some stakeholders have stressed that industry benefited from RS6 relief per unit until June 30, but industrial rates would increase RS5 per unit after rebuilding prices.
Discos criticized
NEPRA officials said that electricity distribution companies (DISCO) refused pricing assistance to protected consumers by manipulating the reading of electricity meters.
Discos increases the consumption of units to withdraw consumers from the protected category of 200 units to send high invoices, they said, adding that they had received several complaints and deepened the issue.
Rehan Javed, a stakeholder, said that the real determined rate had not been taken into account with regard to the uniform price of K-Electric (KE). We feared that Karachi consumers could pay a surcharge if the real KE price was not taken into account during the rebasing.
He asked questions about the tariff structure and called for engaging industries or industrial associations in pricing. He argued that consumers B3 meters were undergoing losses; Therefore, a separate rate should be set to them.
Javed has stressed that the sanctioned charge for industries should be improved to help increase exports from Pakistan. He also called for rectifying the anomaly in peak consumption hours for industries, adding that a new tariff design should be framed.
The stakeholder asked who paid maintenance costs for the grid and offered fixed costs for net solar measurement.
The industrialist Arif Bilwani argued that the electricity division had deposited a petition in anticipation of the approval of the firm. However, officials of the energy division said that the cabinet had already given the green light for the reoffeated prices.
He also raised the question of cold storage, which had been delayed due to the failure of the energy division to find comments. The NEPRA asked why the division had not given its comments and raised the legal issue if the regulator could give its decision without comments from the Division of Power. Division officials said they were working on the firm’s approval request concerning cold storage.
The elderly Tariq Abdul Majeed underlined the higher rates paid by consumers using more than 200 units in a month. Responding to this, those responsible for the Division of Power said that the government gave a grant to people consuming up to 200 units.
