Determining electricity tariff: Provinces loathe free hand given to NEPRA

Provincial govts insist that this ‘unconstitutional body’ should be dissolved forthwith.

ISLAMABAD: Against the wishes of the provincial governments, the federal government has given a free hand to the National Electric Power Regularity Authority (Nepra) to determine the power tariff, a source in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

“The federal government didn’t pay any heed to the repeated complaints lodged by all four provincial governments against the ongoing procedure of determination of power tariff by Nepra,” the source said.

“All four provinces wanted the federal government to understand that the constitution has empowered them to determine the power tariff and that an unconstitutional body, such as Nepra, should be dissolved forthwith.”

The issue was agitated by the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with the federal government early last year. The other provinces also supported K-P’s point of view and joined hands against Nepra when the issue was raised in the Council of Common Interest (CCI) last year.

Nepra’s role to determine the electricity tariff is a constant violation of the constitution, the provincial governments claimed, indicating that they could seek a remedial action from the Supreme Court, under article 157 of the constitution,  as the “determination of power tariff is the sole prerogative  of the provincial governments.”

Rejecting the provincial government’s point of view, Nepra insisted that it is a statutory body having the exclusive powers of fixing the tariff of electricity.

The heavy cost of conflicting interpretation of the constitution by Nepra and the provincial governments is suffered most by the poor and helpless consumers. Since the government has come into power there has been about 100 per cent increase in the power tariff and no improvement has been made in the revenue generation on account of rampant corruption in Wapda and Pepco.

It may be remembered that PPP while in the opposition had claimed that the three bodies formed by former president General Pervez Musharraf, namely Pemra, Nepra and Ogra, were unconstitutional bodies and the PPP would abolish them after coming into power. However, it now seems that the government is pleased with the performance of these three entities.

The CCI constituted a special committee when the tussle between provinces and Nepra took the matter to the supreme constitutional body meant for resolving conflicting issues.

The special committee, headed by Petroleum Minister Naveed Qamar was entrusted with the task last year to forward its report to the CCI after comprehensive consultations with all the stakeholders to resolve the constitutional issue.

However, the committee left the issue unresolved after holding only three meetings, the K-P government official complained.

“It appears that Islamabad had barred the special committee to come to a conclusion when it realised that the provinces will win the case,” he alleged.

The official further stated that this sort of attitude demonstrated by the federal government is against the common people and added that, ‘’It is also against the spirit of the provincial autonomy guaranteed by the constitution.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2011.