National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has approved a seasonal package to encourage electricity consumers to rely more on electricity rather than gas during the winter season.
According to details, residential, commercial, and general services consumers across the country will be charged a flat rate of Rs. 12.96 per unit after consumption of 300 units of electricity for four months of the winter season.
The reference period for the seasonal package will be November 2020 to February 2021 and power users who would consume more electricity than the reference period will be given a discount of Rs. 12.96 on incremental consumption after 300 units.
The winter package was formulated by the Ministry of Energy and submitted to NEPRA recently. It will be applicable countrywide from 1 November 2021 till 28 February 2022.
Last month, Minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar, had announced the seasonal package for electricity consumers that would utilize surplus electricity between November and February.
Speaking back then, the Minister had said that the purpose of this package is to encourage maximum use of surplus power in the winter season, so that capacity payment to power producers may be reduced, which was one of the key factors of increased inflow of circular debt.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, NEPRA reserved the verdict on increasing the baseline tariff to the tune of Rs. 1.68 per unit for domestic consumers across the country.
Chairman NEPRA, Tauseef Farooqi, presided over the public hearing of the federal government’s petition which sought an increase in the baseline tariff of power users under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Note that although the government had sought an average increase of Rs. 1.39, the overall tariff hike for domestic consumers will be Rs. 1.68. If approved, the average per-unit cost of electricity will be increased to Rs. 15.36 per unit.
