Summary Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of electricity load shedding case till oct 4.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed the government to review the recent increase in electricity tariff and submit a reply on October 4.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry heard suo moto case case over load shedding today (Wednesday).
During case proceedings, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry stated that “the general public should not be punished for the wrongdoings of the people who steal electricity.”
“Strict investigation should be done against the people involved in power theft,” he further added.
Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif expressed that the government is ready to review the electricity price notification.
Later, the court directed the government to submit a written reply regarding review by Friday.
NEW POWER TARIFF
The government issued notification of electricity tariff hike on Monday, increasing the price for the consumers using 201 to 300 units Rs 5.89 per unit which means they will now have to pay Rs14 per unit against the old rate of Rs8.15 per unit.
Rs3.67 per unit was increased for the consumers utilizing 301 to 700 units, thus they will be now paying Rs 16 per unit instead of Rs12.33. For the consumers using more than 700 units will the price was increased 2.93 per unit, thus they will now pay Rs18 instead of Rs15.07 per unit.
It is worth mentioning that the hike in power tariff is one of the preconditions of the loan deal the government thrashed out with the International Monitory Fund (IMF).
