NEPRA approves power companies’ demand of rise in power tariffs

NEPRA approves power companies’ demand of rise in power tariffs

Thursday, March 1, 2012: Power Tariffs in most parts of Pakistan are going to be increased by about 39% after National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) approved the increase requested by the power companies.

The power companies in the country had earlier requested NEPRA to increase the tariffs as their profit margins were shrinking due to the internationally rising fuel prices. The power tariff hike is meant to cover the rise in the
cost of fuel since August 2011.

As per the approval, the average rise in tariffs is about Rs3.03 per kilowatt-hour. Prior to the increase an average customer paid, Rs7.83 per unit, however after the increase of 39% the average tariff will be somewhere around
Rs10.86 per unit.

The new rates are in effect from today, and will come in consumers’ bills from the month of March. The aforementioned changes will not apply to consumers in the rest of the country who use less than 50 kilowatt-hours per month,
who are known as “lifeline” consumers and charged the nominal tariffs of Rs1.87 per unit.

Power Tariff changes will also not affect any consumers in Karachi. The consumers in Karachi are rendered service by KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Company) which already charge a higher tariff than the rest of the country.

LESC (Lahore Electric Supply Company) customers will also stay unaffected by this because of orders issued by the Lahore High Court, which has prevents the rise of power tariffs in the legion.

Nepra had meant to raise the tariffs in September 2011 but litigation in several courts throughout the country delayed their decision. Even now, some cases are still pending in courts and have blocked Nepra’s ability to raise prices
in some areas.

At present, it is not known of exactly how much each category of users will see an increase in their tariffs. The price hike is only the beginning, as Nepra is planning to increase tariffs in April, by another Rs1.77 per unit increase.

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Posted by Wajahat Javed on Mar 2 2012. Filed under Business, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry