Power tariff increase from October

Federal govt starts implementation of new power tariff policy under conditions laid down by IMF.

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has started implementing its new power tariff policy for residential, commercial and agricultural consumers using 50 or more units per month under conditions laid down by the International Monitory Fund (IMF).

In the first phase of the schedule, bills for the month of October with a two per cent increase in the rates have been sent to consumers. A notification announcing a further two per cent increase in per unit price for the month of November is expected to be issued in a few days.

According to a notification issued about bills for the month of October, the unit price for consumers using up to 50 units per month has been raised from Rs1.79 to Rs1.83 with a raise of four paisa per unit. For residential consumers using up to 100 units, the price has been raised by 8 paisa to Rs4.28, for those consuming between 101 and 300 units per month, the tariff has been raised by 13 paisa to Rs6.47, for users consuming from 301 to 700 units it has been increased by 20 paisa to Rs10.44 and for those using more than 700 units per month, the tariff rose by 48 paisa. The revised price per unit is now Rs13.03.

The per unit price for consumers using more than 5KW approved load has been increased by 24 paisa to Rs12.01, however, for residential users of approved load during off-peak hours has been reduced by 48 paisa. The new rate is Rs6.70 per unit.

The rate for commercial users has also been revised. It has been increased by 25 paisa for users of up to 5KW approved load from Rs12.53 to 12.78 per unit, while those consuming more than 5KW would have to pay an additional cost of 16 paisa, that is, Rs7.98 per unit.

According to the notification, the per unit price has been reduced by 24 paisa for commercial consumers who have meters installed with the feature ‘time of use’. Their reduced per unit price will be Rs6.50, however, for the peak hour users, it has been increased by 22 paisa per unit to a revised rate of Rs11.05 per unit.

The rates have also been increased for agricultural users, where SCARP users consuming less than 5KW would have to pay Rs8.30 per unit after an increase of 16 paisa, while agricultural tube wells will be charged at a rate of Rs5.21 with an increase of 10 paisa per unit.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2010.