Prime Minister Imran Khan has deferred the tariff hike for consumers of K-Electric. The decision was taken during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy chaired by the prime minister.
On July 4, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved a tariff hike for K-Electric by Rs. 2.79 per unit. The meeting also reviewed the agreement between the government and the K-Electric.
While directing emergency measures to resolve the excessive load-shedding issues in Karachi, Khan directed to provide electricity to Karachi from the national grid until K-Electric’s problems are resolved.
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The meeting was informed that in January this year, power tariff was increased across the country but not for the consumers of K-Electric, due to which, the government has been bearing a burden of three to four billion rupees every month.
It was decided that all the facts regarding the K-Electric tariff will be made public, and the tariff will be increased in a phase-wise manner, bringing it at par with other parts of the country.
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On the issue of fixing gas prices, the premier was told that the locally produced gas does not suffice the national need, thus, gas is imported to meet the requirements. However, there is a major difference between the price of local gas and the imported ones.
Meanwhile, Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Justice (R) Javed Iqbal has directed its Karachi office to initiate an inquiry of the complaints of unscheduled load-shedding, over-billing, and violation of the agreement. According to the agreement, K-Electric is bound to modernize the electricity generation and transmission system, but the power supplier has miserably failed in honoring the agreement.
