The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has raised the power tariff by Rs. 0.48 per unit, transferring a burden of approximately Rs. 5 billion onto consumers, according to a notification issued by NEPRA on Monday.
NEPRA said that this decision is based on the variations in fuel charges in August 2020. The authority also said that the electricity production cost for August remained at Rs. 3.68 per unit.
The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had requested an increase of Rs. 0.98 per unit, according to the NEPRA notification. However, the authority had conducted a public hearing over the issue and decided to maintain the increase at Rs. 0.48 per unit.
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NEPRA declared that this increase is applicable to all the consumer categories of the distribution companies except their lifeline consumers and the consumers of K-Electric. The notification read:
The said adjustment shall be shown separately in the consumers’ bills on the basis of units billed to the consumer in the month of July 2020 by the XWDISCOs (Ex-WAPDA distribution companies).
In October, an increase of Rs. 0.83 per unit in power tariff was announced on account of the variations in fuel charges in July. In September, NEPRA approved an increase of Rs. 1.6 per unit under the quarterly adjustments for the second and third quarters of 2019-20.
These additions led the distribution companies to a collection of Rs. 164.870 billion from power consumers within one year.
