Power consumers will face another hike of Rs3.23-unit in tariff.

ISLAMABAD -- The electricity consumers will face another hike of Rs3.23 per unit in tariff as the federal government has filed a motion seeking NEPRA nod for the imposition of surcharge on the power consumers for the fiscal year 2023-24.

In a motion filed by the federal government with respect to Consumer End Tariff recommendations of XWDlSCOs and K-Electric, it has been requested that the already approved surcharges of Rs 3.82/unit and Rs 1.43/unit through NEPRA decision dated March 06, 2023, are not sufficient to meet the electric services obligations of government. Federal government sought the inclusion of revised surcharge amount for inclusion in schedule of tariff of XWDISCOs and K-Electric. The federal government has requested to enhance the surcharge by Rs 1.80/unit from the already approved Rs 1.43/unit to Rs 3.23/unit for the next fiscal year.

It is worth mentioning here that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority had already allowed the federal government to impose an additional surcharge of Rs 3.39/unit and Rs1/unit from Mar-Jun 2023 and Jul 2023 to June 2024 respectively, having a cumulative impact of Rs 149b on the power consumers.

With the application of additional Rs 3.39/unit, total surcharge becomes Rs 3.82/unit for the four months of 2022-23 having an impact of Rs 75 billion and for FY 2023-24, additional surcharge of Rs. 3.39/unit will be reduced to Rs. 1/unit to cover the additional markup charges of PHL loans not covered through already applicable FC surcharge @ 0.43/unit; the total surcharge becomes Rs. 1.43/unit for FY 2023-24 having an impact of Rs 74 billion, said NEPRA decision issued in the matter of motion of the federal government with respect to recommendation of consumer-end tariff for XWDISCOs and K-Electric. In view thereof, the Authority has decided to allow application of the surcharge to be recovered from...