Nepra rejects plea for Rs3.5 per unit hike in KE tariff

With a majority vote, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday rejected on technical grounds, rather than on its merits, a federal government’s request to increase electricity tariff for K-Electric consumers by an average Rs3.5 per unit for three months. Interestingly, Nerpa had conducted the joint public hearing on two requests by the government for increasing the KE tariff by a cumulative Rs6.02 per unit under quarterly tariff adjustments (QTAs) to reduce the burden on the national exchequer by Rs20 billion. Under the first request, the regulator had last weekend allowed Rs1.55 per unit increase in QTA for the second quarter (September-December) of FY22. However, on Tuesday, it disallowed another increase of up to Rs4.45 per unit for the first quarter (June-August) of FY23. Three provincial members of Nepra from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab rejected the request for tariff increase for the first quarter (July-September 2023), saying this did not appear to be for the purpose of national uniformity of electricity rates and was also not covered under the existing legal framework and policy guidelines of the government. However, they said the request could be entertained once fresh tariff guidelines are issued by the government that is currently processing them.