Govt to hike power tariff by Rs7.91 to revive IMF package

ISLAMABAD: Moving swiftly to meet conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to continue loan program under Extended Fund Facility (EFF), the federal government has decided to hike tariff by Rs7.91 per unit on account of quarterly adjustments, ARY News reported.

According to the circular debt management plan, which was presented to the IMF, the government will jack up electricity price by Rs7.91 per unit in four quarterly adjustments – Feb-March 2023, March-May 2023 June-Aug and September-November.

Under the circular debt management plan, the government will charge Rs3.21 per unit from now onwards, 69 paise from March-May and increasing again to Rs1.64 per unit from June onwards to August of 2023. From Sep-Nov, the govt will hike power tariff by Rs1.98 per unit.

The consumer base tariff will be increased from Rs15.28 per unit in June 2022 to Rs23.39 per unit till June 2023.

The government also approved the withdrawal of electricity subsidy of Rs65 billion given to the exporters, with effect from March 2023.

Furthermore, the coalition govt gave the go-ahead to the recovery of pending fuel cost adjustment from consumers of less than 300 units per month at an average rate of Rs2.17 per unit to collect Rs68 billion.

Read More: PAKISTAN HAS RECEIVED MEFP DRAFT FROM IMF: ISHAQ DAR

Separately, the ECC session chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Friday approved the imposition of an additional surcharge of Rs1 per unit for FY 2023-24 to recover additional markup charges of PHL loans not covered through the already applicable FC surcharge.

The surcharge will also be applicable to K-Electric customers.

The ECC approved the proposal to recover Rs76 billion while exempting non-ToU domestic consumers having consumption equal to 300 units and private agriculture consumers in four months period from March 2023 to June 2023 to recover the markup charges of PHL loans.