Power tariff raised for Karachi

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has approved up to 70 per cent increase in electricity tariff for Karachi-Electric consumers. Through a series of tariff determinations in the matter of revenue requirements of K-Electric, the power regulator also increased by 100 per cent rates for lifeline consumers who consume less than 50 units per month. The tariff determinations of K-Electric had been piled up for about six quarters due to legal and procedural difficulties. As a consequence, the applicable tariff for domestic consumers in Karachi was significantly lower than in other parts of the country since the government jacked up rates for distribution companies of Wapda in October last year. In the process, Nepra also had to revise its own determinations on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and removed errors committed by the K-Electric. Now, the electricity tariff would become uniform across the country and reduce government subsidy by about Rs20 billion, an official estimated. According to Nepra’s decision, the tariff for domestic consumers using less than 50 units for sanctioned load of less than five kilowatt has been increased to Rs4 per unit from Rs2. For residential consumers using up to 100 units, the tariff has been reduced by 69 paisa per unit to Rs5.10, down by about 12 per cent. Likewise, the rate for those consuming 101-200 units has been reduced by 79 paisa per unit to Rs7.32 per unit from Rs8.11, down by 9.7 per cent. The tariff for consumers using 201-300 units per month has been increased by Rs5.61 per unit from Rs8.11 to Rs13.71, showing an increase of 69 per cent. The rate for consumers using 301-700 units has been increased by Rs3.29 per unit or 22 per cent to Rs15.62 from Rs15.07 per unit. For those consuming more than 700 units per month the tariff has been jacked up by 21.4 per cent to Rs18.29 per unit from Rs15.07. Likewise, the peak rate for time of use consumers was increased by Rs3.22 per unit to Rs21.48. An official said Nepra had also reduced the slab benefit for consumers who would now be eligible for only one lower slab, unlike the previous exercise of the benefit of all previous slabs. The tariff for commercial consumers has been also increased by 29 paisa per unit, ranging between 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent. The commercial tariff for less than 5kw load was increased from Rs18 to Rs18.29 per unit, while for those above 5kw, the rate was increased by 1.8 per cent from Rs16 to Rs16.29 per unit. The rate for industrial consumers has been increased by about 6.11 per cent from Rs18 per unit to Rs19.10. Nepra officials said the new rates had been approved on the basis of rate of subsidy approved by the government for each consumer category. He said the government would issue a notification to the K-Electric within this week for implementation.