Govt to increase power tariff by 80%, claims Hammad Azhar

ISLAMABAD: Former Energy Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Hammad Azahar has warned that the ‘imported’ government was planning to increase electricity tariff by 80 percent, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Taking to Twitter, the former energy minister pointed out that the coalition government was planning to increase the electricity tariff by 80 percent in three months.

“From this month, the imported government has abolished the Rs5 per unit subsidy given by the PTI-led federal government,” he claimed, adding that the government has announced to increase the electricity tariff by Rs 7.91 per unit in next three months.

– فیول کاسٹ اڈجسٹمنٹ اور ٹیکس اس کے علاوہ ہیں۔
– مفتاح صاحب نے بجلی کا یونٹ Rs 12 فی یونٹ کرنے کا وعدہ کیا تھا۔ لیکن اب بجلی کا بنیادی ٹیرف ہی 13 روپے سے بڑھانے چلیں ہیں۔
– بڑھانے کی وجہ نون لیگ کے امپورٹڈ ایندھن والے مہنگے بجلی گھر کے اُن کی بڑھتی کیپیسٹی کی ادائیگیاں ہیں۔

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) June 16, 2022

In another tweet, Hammad Azhar wrote: “[Finance Minister] Miftah Ismail had promised to decrease the electricity tariff to Rs12 per unit, now they are planning to increase the basic electricity tariff from Rs13 per unit.

The PTI leader noted that the increase in electricity prices are due to the expensive power plants with imported fuels and payments of capacity.

A day earlier, PML-N-led coalition government jacked up petrol price by Rs24 per litre. The announcement was made by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while addressing a press conference in Islamabad, citing government was not in a position to bear more subsidies anymore.