Pakistan jolted by 74% power tariff hike

The Pakistan government yesterday notified an unprecedented 74 per cent hike in electricity tariff for industrial, commercial and bulk consumers of across all distribution companies, including Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) with immediate effect. The increase would give the kitty a Rs169 billion boost.

This amount would be apportioned, Rs136.8 billion to ex-Wapda (Water and Power Development Authority) distribution companies and Rs32 billion to KESC, according to a senior official told The Dawn newspaper.

He added, average tariff increase had been estimated at 35 per cent even though in some categories rates might be on the higher side.

The 'anticipatory approval' of the tariff increase had been acquired from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet through circulation of the file that contained different schedules of tariff and which is expected to be endorsed by the federal cabinet soon.

According to the report, prime minister Nawaz Sharif had approved the tariff increase before he left for Saudi Arabia.

Power minister Khawaja Asif had last week announced that electricity rates for domestic and agricultural consumers would be hiked with effect from 1 October.

With the increase revenue of all distribution companies (excluding KESC) would rise to over Rs1 trillion from about Rs875 billion under the existing tariff.

The industrial tariff hike ranged between 25 and 98.42 per cent, across various slabs and categories.

Commercial tariff has been increased between 19 and 74 per cent. The tariff for commercial consumers, known as A-2, has gone up to Rs18.90 per unit from the present notified tariff of Rs14.77 per unit, up 28 per cent.

Regular 20 kw commercial rates are up by almost 74 per cent to Rs16.90 from Rs9.72 per unit. The rates for Time-of-Day (TOD) commercial consumers have risen over 43 per cent to Rs18.90 from Rs13.20 per unit for peak consumption, while off-peak rates increased 67 per cent to Rs13.40 per unit from Rs8.01. Temporary commercial rates are up from Rs15 to Rs17.90 per unit.