KE tariff goes up by Rs1.52 per unit as payables surge to Rs592bn

With K-Electric’s payables to the national grid at Rs592 billion and rising at Rs16bn per month, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday decided to increase KE’s consumer tariff by Rs1.52 per unit for a year earlier blocked by the private utility for over three years through litigation. On top of this, the ECC led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also decided to inject an additional amount of about Rs147bn in the power sector including payment of Rs76bn tariff differential subsidy (TDS) on behalf of KE to the national grid whose finances are handled by Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA). Eight other supplementary grants worth Rs8.28bn were also approved. The ECC also relaxed restrictions on the imports of pharmaceutical raw materials and timber & wood for another four months ending Oct 31. The meeting was told that since 2018-19, the KE had stopped paying CPPA against power purchase invoices citing a clause of the power purchase agreement that expired in 2015 but power supplies from the national grid not only continued but almost doubled to Karachi without any agreement and payments. The KE attributed the non-payments to pending subsidies receivables from the government.