Govt takes flak for seeking Rs81.5b from consumers

The government has come under fire for seeking permission from the regulator for recovering Rs81.5 billion from honest consumers paying bills regularly on account of capacity charges and losses caused by theft and leakages. Interveners called on the regulator to take strict action to fix the problem. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) held a public hearing on Wednesday to review a petition in which power distribution companies (DISCOs) sought the recovery of Rs81.5 billion from consumers under quarterly adjustment for the second quarter of financial year 2023-24. It was informed that DISCOs wanted to collect a total of Rs75,139 million on account of capacity charges and Rs10,818 million to recover transmission and distribution (T&D) losses under the monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA).