Federal cabinet meets today to approve power tariffs hike

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the federal cabinet will be held Thursday (today) with Prime Minister Imran Khan in chair, to approve the revised power tariffs.

The session will also review the political and economic situation of the country. Though, the endorsement of the hike in electricity price for domestic consumers, as proposed by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) will be the top agenda of the meeting.

A day earlier, the Economic Coordination Committee of the federal cabinet approved hike in power tariff for households consuming over 300 units per month.

A meeting of the committee, chaired by Finance Minister Asad Umar, reportedly decided on Wednesday that electricity prices would not be raised for domestic consumers using 300 units or less every month.

However, households that consume between 300 and 700 units per month will witness a rise in electricity prices of roughly ten percent or Rs1.18 per unit., and a fifteen percent increase will be introduced for those consuming above 700 units per month.

The committee reportedly also decided to provide relief in electricity prices for the agriculture sector, slashing rates by almost 48 percent from Rs10.5 per unit to Rs5.5. The ECC also discussed matters pertaining to the power sector and economic indicators.

It may be mentioned here that the rise in power tariff is less than anticipated which implies that the government is wary of the adverse reaction from consumers, and has approved keeping in view the recent decision regarding the recovery of dues.

The government has not released an official statement regarding the changes in power tariff structure, but Finance Minister Asad Umar is expected to announce the measures soon.