Govt allows 75 paisa per unit increase in power tariff

This new tariff will be applicable to domestic consumers using more than 300 units per month.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The government has allowed 75 paisa per unit increase in the power tariff for consumers under the fuel adjustment mechanism for the month of May.

However, according to a notification issued by the Power Division on Monday, this new tariff will be applicable to domestic consumers using more than 300 units per month.

Moreover, commercial consumers using up to 5 kilowatts of electricity are also exempted from the hike.

On the other hand, the prices have remained unchanged for industrial consumers of export sector i.e. Rs7.5 per unit.

According to details, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had recommended an increase of Rs1.49 per unit in the power tariff for consumers under the fuel adjustment mechanism for the month of May.

However, the government has allowed a raise of only 75 paisa per unit.

The power tariff hike comes as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has passed its first budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs7.02 trillion.

On protection of vulnerable segments of society, the government had announced that a subsidy of Rs216 billion will be earmarked for 75 percent consumers using less than 300 units of electricity.

The annual development plan also envisages upgradation of power transmission and distribution system in order to reduce line losses and check power theft.

The hike in power tariff will put an additional burden on the consumers using more than 300 units per month. Revised electricity prices will be effective from July 1, 2019.