Industries will be charged Rs 22.98 per unit for consumption above their previous levels.
In a bid to promote industrial and agricultural development in the country, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has approved concessional tariffs on additional electricity consumption following a government referral.
Industries across the country are increasingly turning to solar power to cope with rising electricity costs and frequent outages. These include the textile, cement, pharmaceutical, rice milling and agriculture sectors, while households are also turning to solar energy due to the rising cost of electricity. Earlier this year, the country reached a historic milestone in solar energy use, with solar power generation outstripping supply from the national grid.
To encourage consumers to return to grid electricity and to support activity in the industrial sector, Nepra has approved reduced tariffs for additional usage. The federal government has received the decision from the regulator, under which industries will be charged Rs 22.98 per unit for consumption above their previous levels.
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The decision states that for the next three years, industrial and agricultural consumers will be charged Rs 22.98 per unit for additional power consumption. After three years, the additional plan will automatically expire.
The package will apply to electricity distributed by the government and to industrial and agricultural consumers of K-Electric. Positive fuel adjustments will apply to additional consumption, but quarterly adjustments, date adjustments and negative adjustments will not apply. Duties and taxes will be determined based on the amount to be paid, and there will be no impact on households or other sectors.
The Electricity Division welcomed the decision and initiated procedures to issue the corresponding notification. According to the government, the industrial package will not affect domestic or commercial consumers.
Energy Minister Awais Leghari said the plan would help boost the country’s industrial and agricultural activities. He added that this would promote production and create additional employment opportunities.
Leghari said the three-year program would enable the industrial sector to plan for the future more effectively. Emerging industries, including data centers and crypto mining operations, will also benefit from this initiative.
He stressed that industry and agriculture constitute the backbone of the economy. The government has reduced the cost of additional power units for the industrial sector (previously Rs 34 per unit) and for the agricultural sector (previously Rs 38 per unit).
The minister explained that the rates for additional units for agriculture have been reduced from Rs38 to Rs22.98 per unit, while industrial rates have been reduced from Rs34 to Rs22.98 per unit. He said this would reduce the average cost of electricity for consumers.
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He further said that if an agricultural consumer used 100 units earlier, the cost of another 100 units would now reduce by Rs 7 per unit on an average. For industries using 1,000 units, the average cost of an additional 1,000 units would decrease by around Rs 5 per unit.
Leghari said prices for the industrial sector had already been reduced earlier and the latest cut would further support industrial growth. He added that the government was keeping its promises and expressed hope that the initiative would help improve the economy.
The industrial package will come into force after the Power Division issues the official notification. The package applies specifically to consumption exceeding that of last year.
