NA panel blocks bill for unspecified surcharge.

Byline: Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD -- Days after a staff-level agreement for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme revival, a parliamentary panel on Monday blocked a government bill seeking restoration of its powers to impose unspecified amount of surcharges on electricity consumers.

Through the bill, the government attempted to regain the powers for imposition of surcharge that had been withdrawn in 2017.

Almost all members attending the meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Power, led by Chaudhry Salik Hussain, strongly opposed such 'blanket powers' to the government.

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The finance and power secretaries earlier explained to the committee that an amendment to the Nepra law would empower the federal government that in addition to the notified tariff, rates and charges determined by the regulator, to impose such surcharges on any or all categories of consumers at it may notify from time to time on each unit of electricity. The amount of such surcharges would be deemed as a cost incurred by the distribution companies (Discos) and included in the tariff, they said. The officials said such surcharges would be levied for funding any public-sector project to the extent decided by the federal government or fulfillment of any financial obligation of the federal government on account of electric power services.

They said the government had not yet made up mind about the size of surcharges but wanted to have 'an enabling legislation' as one of the tools for rational financial management of the sector.

They told the parliamentary panel that an earlier amendment made in the Nepra Act in 2017 had withdrawn the government powers for surcharge and the government wanted to regain those powers to ensure nationwide uniform tariff and financing cost of circular debt.

While nearly all the members at the meeting opposed the 'blanket powers' to the government, some questioned if the provincial governments had been consulted on the proposed legislation as surcharges would affect the people in all the provinces.

Provincial jurisdiction, CCI

Lawmaker Shazia Marri informed other members of the panel that in fact the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government had written letters to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led federal government to say that the matter should be discussed at...

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