The government has decided to re-impose Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA) charges on electricity bills of Lahore Electric Supply Company’s (LESCO) consumers.
The development comes after the public uproar against these charges had waned following the government’s decision to withdraw the FPA surcharge from electricity bills.
According to details, the federal government will recover the FPA surcharge from 2.2 million LESCO consumers, and over Rs. 3.5 billion will be recovered from them in six installments from October 2022 to March 2023.
It will reportedly be charged at Rs. 9.9 per unit after approval from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA).
The government then provided temporary relief in the electricity bills after violent protestors stormed the LESCO office in Lahore, and citizens in other cities across the country held demonstrations against the massive hike in electricity bills.
In June, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced relief in fuel surcharge for consumers using up to 300 units. The Power Division had issued two notifications in this regard, with the first one announcing FPA relief for consumers using up to 200 units and the second one extending it to 300 units.
Furthermore, the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench had also ordered the authorities last month to withdraw the FPA from the electricity bills. Headed by Justice Jawad Hassan, the bench directed the authorities to remove the FPA for all consumers instead of those with only limited usage.
