NEPRA sets hearing on govt request to hike power tariff tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has set a hearing on the federal government’s request to increase the power tariff in the country by Rs1.95 per unit on Thursday (tomorrow), ARY NEWS reported on Wednesday.

The government has asked the NEPRA to increase the power tariff by Rs1.95 per unit in order to help the authorities in overcoming an increase in the circular debt.

The federal cabinet has already approved an increase in the power tariff.

It is pertinent to mention here that the energy ministry of Pakistan has hiked electricity tariffs by Rs1.95 per unit which it claimed is due to a hefty circular debt thanks to previous governments.

We could jack the prices by Rs2.18 per unit but we did not want to “burden the masses” so we only increased 23 percent in tariff, said the federal minister for energy Omar Ayub in a joint presser today accompanied by federal planning minister Asad Umer and Prime Minister’s aide on energy Tabish Gauhar.

Ayub said the incumbent government has inherited the circular debt crisis for which it is binding on it to hike the tariffs and translate the impact on the masses. Due to the heavy debts in the energy sector, which he termed a minefield, we had no other option but to expedite clearing off the payables, he said.

On the recent countrywide power breakdown, the minister said it happens everywhere in the world, adding that everyone praised how soon we recovered from it.