ISLAMABAD:
The Power Division said on Tuesday that there was no plan to impose a surcharge on electricity bills to bear the cost of commercial loans taken from banks to retire circular debt.
An official of the Power Division revealed this during a public hearing conducted to consider a motion of the division seeking tariff reduction of up to Rs1.15 per unit due to rebasing. The division informed the hearing that average national tariff would be slashed from Rs32.73 per unit to Rs31.59 per unit – a decline of Rs1.14. Officials said that base tariff for all consumers, except for lifeline consumers, would go down by Rs1.15 per unit.
Tanveer Bari, representing the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, raised the issue of a new power surcharge on electricity bills. He argued that the government was going to give a relief of Rs1.15 per unit but at the same time it was preparing to slap a surcharge of Rs3.23 per unit due to loans taken from banks.
He said that the surcharge could go up in case of lower electricity consumption. Bari protested over giving only one day to review the motion and other people also approached Nepra, asking it to give at least seven days in that regard.
He pleaded the regulator not to approve the petition, adding that the government had claimed a big relief following deals with the independent power producers but in reality it was a very thin relief.
He also criticised the increasing fixed charges for industries and demanded the removal of a cap on solar net metering to boost industrial activities.
Another intervener Amir Sheikh questioned about the relief being given to consumers. Some interveners pointed out that the industry was enjoying a relief of Rs6 per unit till June 30 but industrial rates would go up by Rs5 per unit after the rebasing of tariffs.
DISCOs slammed for overbilling
Nepra officials said that power distribution companies (DISCOs) were denying tariff relief to protected consumers by manipulating the reading of electricity meters.
DISCOs increase the consumption of units to take consumers out of the 200-unit protected category to send high bills, they said, adding that they had received several complaints and were probing the matter.
Rehan Javed, an intervener, said that the actual determined tariff was not taken into consideration in relation to K-Electric’s (KE) uniform tariff. It was feared that Karachi consumers would have to pay a surcharge if the actual KE tariff was not taken into account during rebasing.
He asked about tariff structure and called for engaging industries or industrial associations in tariff rebasing. He argued that B3 meter consumers were bearing losses; therefore a separate tariff should be set for them.
Javed emphasised that the sanctioned load for industries should be enhanced to help increase Pakistan’s exports. He also called for rectifying the anomaly in peak consumption hours for industries, adding that a new tariff design should be framed.
The intervener asked who was paying grid maintenance charges and proposed fixed charges for solar net metering.
Industrialist Arif Bilwani argued that the Power Division had filed a petition in anticipation of cabinet’s approval. However, Power Division officials said that the cabinet had already given the go-ahead for tariff rebasing.
He also raised the issue of cold storages, which had been delayed due to the Power Division’s failure to come up with comments. Nepra asked why the division had not given its comments and raised the legal question whether the regulator could give its decision without comments from the Power Division. Officials of the division said that they were working on seeking approval of the cabinet regarding cold storages.
Senior citizen Tariq Abdul Majeed highlighted the higher tariffs being paid by consumers using more than 200 units in a month. Responding to that, the Power Division officials clarified that the government was giving a subsidy to people consuming up to 200 units.
