The new year will bring more misery for the masses as power tariff will likely go up after petrol price hike on January 1.
The power distribution companies have moved the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to increase the tariff.
Earlier, on December 9, NEPRA had increased tariffs by Rs4.74 per unit under monthly fuel adjustment charges.
The price of electricity had already increased by an average Rs2.64 per unit from July to September for fuel adjustment. A decision is still pending on an appeal of a Rs4.33 per unit adjustment for November.
The power regulatory authority will hold a hearing on January 12 on the new application.
The power distribution companies have requested the NEPRA to shift an additional burden of Rs17.85 billion onto consumers under various heads – Rs5.72 billion under capacity charges as there was electricity in the system but was not utilized, Rs9 billion under transmission/line losses and Rs1.95 billion under the use of system charges.
On December 31, the NEPRA had approved 99 paisa per unit cut in power tariffs for the 4th quarter of the last fiscal year under a quarterly adjustment mechanism. The price cut will grant a Rs22.48 billion relief to the consumers, except K-Electric users.
Power companies use the mechanism of fuel adjustment charges to recover the difference in fuel cost.
