Power firms to resume recovery of fuel cost changes

NEPRA issues notification after court removes restriction.

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority has issued a notification, paving the way for power distribution companies to gradually recover fuel price adjustment of past eight months from consumers, an unpopular move that may spell trouble for the incoming PML-N government.

Nepra took the step after a division bench of the Islamabad High Court on March 21, in an appeal filed by power distribution companies against the court’s previous order, temporarily allowed them to pass the changes in fuel cost on to consumers.

Earlier on October 24, 2012, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of IHC had declared the fuel price adjustment illegal, restricting power companies from revising tariff upwards as a result of higher fuel cost.

Now, with the issuance of notification, power rates would rise up to Rs1.55 per unit that would be reflected in consumer bills of June, an official of the water and power ministry said.



“This can lead to fierce criticism of incoming PML-N government by the people who are bearing prolonged power outages,” the official said.

“With the regulator’s decision, collection of fuel price adjustment for the period August 2012 to March 2013 from consumers will start from June,” said a senior government official.

Only in August last year, power tariff was reduced by Rs0.5 per unit under the fuel price adjustment mechanism.

As per the regulator’s decision, power tariff on account of fuel price adjustment was increased by Rs1.33 per unit for March 2013, Rs0.64 for February and Rs1.55 for January.

Similarly, the regulator increased power price by Rs1.33 per unit for December 2012, Rs0.91 for November 2012, Rs0.4 for October 2012, Rs0.5 for September 2012.

This shows an accumulative rise of Rs5.85 per unit, excluding the decline of Rs0.5 for August 2012.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2013.

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