Urgent petition: IHC moves against NEPRA’s electricity price hikes

Petitioner says it’s unlawful to charge consumers for electricity already used and paid for.

ISLAMABAD:

While electricity prices soar and parts of the country are yet to experience a day without blackouts, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) moved on Wednesday against National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA)’s notification of an increase in the power tariff. The price hike has take place on account of Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA).

In a petition for urgent hearing, Barrister Abubakar Sehri prayed to the court to declare NEPRA’s October 2011 notification of charging FPA ‘illegal, unlawful and without any force of law with retrospective effect’.

The lawyer also requested the court to direct the NEPRA chairman to either adjust or refund the amount charged to electricity consumers as a result of the notification and to fix electricity tariffs for at least one fiscal year without any intermediate change in the tariff.

The important nature of the petition has ensured that the date for hearing has been fixed for Thursday (today) by the court of Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kansi.

The petitioner contended that as a result of the October notification, NEPRA had increased the electricity tariff at the rate of Rs2.4 per kilowatt, in addition to the Rs 4.03 per kilowatt already being paid.

Paying for units already paid for

According to the notification, electricity consumers were charged the new tariff from the month of July on already consumed and paid electricity units, the petitioner informed the court.  Sehri added that such price hikes were creating massive dents in the pockets of the people – since they had no option but to pay the additional amount on the units already consumed.

Sehri also maintained that if the electricity tariff was changed so abruptly, and that too without even giving prior notice to those who ultimately had to foot the bill, the consumer suffers no fault. He added that the notifications issued by NEPRA were done so in an ‘arbitrary fashion’, since there was no forum for consumers to appeal against such ‘draconian orders’.

NEPRA notification ‘unislamic’

The petititoner argued that the kind of price fixation or overcharging carried out by NEPRA through this notice was ‘unislamic’ and contrary to the principle of Islamic Shariah. He emphasised that Shariah clearly states that when price is quoted or paid, no other charges or differences can be claimed from consumers with retrospective effect.

He also stated that NEPRA’s notification was in violation of Article 2-A and 4 of the Constitution, as it clearly restricts any legislation made against and in derogation of injunctions of the Quran and Sunnah.

Sehri added that the notification was also in violation of the NEPRA consumer service manual 2010 and NEPRA (Tariff Standards & Procedure) Rules 1998.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2011.