An official said that the Prime minister has approved a subsidy of Rs 2 per litre on High Speed Diesel (HSD) and petrol to provide relief to consumers.
ISLAMABAD:
When sorrows come, they don’t come as single spies but in battalions. For terror-struck, war-weary Pakistani consumers Hamlet’s words couldn’t have rung truer.
On Monday, the pain of higher electricity tariffs -- by as much as 30% -- was compounded by a 4.2% oil price hike, sending the average citizen into deep economic shock.
The latest surge in power tariff is set to impact domestic consumers with those using 200-300 units facing a 72.6 per cent increase in rates from Rs8.11 to Rs14 per unit. Similarly, consumers using 201-300 units per month across the country and 301-700 units of electricity will now face a 30% increase in the power rate from Rs12.33 per unit to Rs 16 per unit.
Worst hit still are those high end consumers who use more than 700 units of electricity per month. With a withdrawal of concessionary rates at lower slabs, such high end consumers will now have to pay Rs18 per unit instead of Rs15.07 per unit starting this month.
The new rates, to be effective from October 1 (today), come as the government stringently follows the structural reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) against the Extended Fund Facility loan amounting to $6.67 billion.
Under the reforms plan, the federal government had agreed to phase out subsidies in the power sector. To achieve this target, a four-phase plan has been tailored to reduce subsidies from about 1.8% of GDP to 0.3-0.4% of GDP within the next three years. Under the first phase, the government had already increased power tariffs for industrial and commercial consumers from August 1.
The latest increase in power tariff for domestic consumers using over 200 units of electricity per month is reported to be the second phase of the subsidy reduction plan.
Talking about the development, an official said that the government is likely to generate Rs162 billion additional revenue from current power tariff increases with the latest tariff hike contributing Rs 74 billion under the head of domestic and agriculture consumers, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan Railways.
The remaining Rs87 billion will be raised in revenue through the earlier August 1 increase in power rates for industrial and commercial consumers.
“The government gave a Rs362 billion subsidy to consumers last year and the financial impact of current increase has been estimated at Rs162 billion which implies domestic consumers still enjoy a subsidy of Rs200 billion,” said the official.
Additionally, the tariff for Azad Jammu and Kashmir has been hiked to Rs14 per unit from the existing rate of Rs12.22 per unit. For peak load requirement exceeding 20 KV, Time of Day (Peak) tariff has been increased by 19.44% from Rs 13.99 to Rs18 per unit, Time of Day (off-peak) from Rs 8.22 to Rs 12.50 per unit.
However, tariff for consumers who use 50 units, 100 units and 200 units in a month will be Rs2 per unit, Rs5.79 per unit and Rs8.11 per unit respectively as there will be no change in the electricity rates for these consumers.
Tariff for agriculture consumer has been fixed at Rs10.35 per unit against Rs11.51 per unit and fixed charges on agriculture meters have also been slashed from Rs200 to Rs120 per month.
Oil prices increased
The government on Monday increased the price of petrol by Rs4.12 per litre and High Speed Diesel by Rs4.69 per litre.
Petrol price has been increased to Rs113.24 per litre from Rs109.13, while the price of high-speed diesel, which is mostly used in cargo and passenger vehicles as well as in agriculture, has been increased to Rs116.95 per litre from the existing Rs112.26.
The price of kerosene oil, which is consumed for cooking in remote areas where liquefied petroleum gas is not readily available, has been increased by Rs2.14 while light diesel oil, mainly used for industrial purposes, has been increased by Rs2.81.
Similarly, the price of high octane blending component (HOBC) has also increased to Rs143.90 per litre compared to existing Rs138.33.
Meanwhile, an official has said that the prime minister has approved a subsidy of Rs 2 per litre on High Speed Diesel (HSD) and petrol to provide relief to consumers.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 1st, 2013.
COMMENTS (24)
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Y.R.Gillani and Raja (rental) P. Ashraf and their boss are still NOT in jail, not even close............says a lot about PML-N's loud slogans at election time.
Shock proof nation......
every rupee increase in electricity directly increases the Theft of electricity untill the the theft and corruption in this regards is not stop the rates will go on increase. But one thing still there is no protest by the people against the hikes in the electricity rates. Can government clear it once what is the actual unit price of electricity as after increasing the rate of electricity the govenment still say that they are still paying the subsidy.
We should atleast write and speak against the unjust decisions taken by the governments.
Two more "economic explosions" as promised by PML (N) in their election campaign. And many more to come as these incompetent idiots have no clue how to handle the economy. Instead of controlling line losses and recovering from people stealing electricity, these morons have opted for the easy way out....punish the honest bill payers. LION ROARS
@Only In Pakistan the blog: why we should pay for electricity theft by other people. If theft is control, rates would be reduced.
@JA It was in election campaign the lion was roaring. It has started biting now.
My fellow Pakistanis, voters of PML-N PTI PPP etc. alike, It's time for a revolution. Raise your voice, join hands and topple these scoundrels before they devour our flesh. We need a face to the rebellion against all political and military monarchies! Do this now, and you will save your kids, don't do this and you will witness the heirs of these monarchs breaking their backs for slave labour. Wake up Pakistanis, revolution is not a merry dream anymore, we are units of it, and together we can win against tyranny!
Pml n govt is taking its revenge on the working middle class who will be the most affected by this price hike for not voting for them in the may 11 elections,they are trying to move them into the lower class,this will only lead to anarchy,I hope not but this country is going to see some serious riots in the not so distant future which spells disaster for this country,Pakistan is going down and it's going to sink you with it mian sahab,wake up and smell the coffee before its too late
@adnan: why this government not take the good decision of recovering looted wealth amounting to thousands of rupees lost to corruption during democracy's last five years of revenge to help the economy and spare people of further squeezing?
I don't find any difference between Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.
Whatever Asif Zardari has not done, Nawaz Sharif will do the rest.
This was the reason that yesterday the stock market went down by hundreds of points.
The more the inflation, the more corruption will increase in the country.
its tough but realistic decision.subsidy is not good for economy.if govt dont increase price of petrol and electricity, note printing is only left option to pay subsidy. and note printing leads to higher inflation than any other price increase.
@Only In Pakistan the blog: and why does this government not take the painful but necessary step of oozing out thousands of billions looted during last five years to support economy?
Each of these steps only validate the point that PML-N was selected (not elected) by IMF and likes to continue the policies of last so many years- I am sure now NS proponents would be thinking about their votes
In 4months govt of nawaz sharif, Its 4th time that the prices of fuel and electricity are increasd. LATEST: Petrol RS4.12/ltr and electricity RS5.89/unit
why does not control line losses n stop electric theft by stringent measures instead of raising tarif on IMF conditions which will only snatch meal from poor peoples mouth and this will also increase economic woes of public manifolds. BUT this govt doesnt seem to be sensitive to peoples problems.
Lion Roars!!!
@Only In Pakistan the blog:
What Govt. needed to do was to crack down on consumers who use electricity through illegal connections instead of punishing paying consumers. This was an idiotic rather than a necessary decision.
This is madness. How is the public going to cope? How can they pay so much money? Its criminally high. It should be taken back. Period.
"When sorrows come, they don’t come as single spies but in battalions. " What the heck is this sentence. Spies and then battalions. The proverb in English for this is "Calamities do not come alone".
An incompetent leader who can not control prices; get loans from IMF. Himself Living in palaces
Imran Khan is responsible for this hike. Bas keh dia!
@Only In Pakistan the blog: HAHA below its cost, you are paying bill as if you get electricity for 24 hours, sadly you don't realize it so have fun paying your "part"
One third of generated electricity is either lost due to faulty power lines, or stolen by people of this country(as said before-there is little religion and lot of religiosity in our land). So the rest of us suffer...simple.
An unpopular, painful but necessary decision. We cannot keep paying electricity below its cost. Or we can but this will never allow us to solve the load shedding problem.