The officials of the Power Ministry have requested the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to keep the electricity tariffs intact till January 2023. The NEPRA concluded a public hearing into the first quarterly adjustment of power distribution companies (DISCOs) for the fiscal year 2022-23.

Presided over by NEPRA Chairman Tauseef H Farooqi, the public hearing was also attended by Sindh member Engineer Rafique Shaikh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa member Engineer Maqsood Anwar Khan. The Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee (CPPA-G) on behalf of XWDISCOs sought an adjustment of Rs43.337 billion for the first quarter under the quarterly adjustment mechanism.

However, the officials of the Power Ministry requested the regulator to implement the adjustments in February and March of next year. They said that the NEPRA had earlier allowed charging of Rs3.30 per unit in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year 2021-22 which would continue till January 2023.

The officials said that the new adjustments should be allowed once the earlier adjustments were recovered. The adjustments would be applicable to all consumers except lifeline and K-Electric. The power would likely increase by Rs2.18 per unit with the first quarter adjustment.

Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) sought an adjustment of Rs6.377 billion, Gujranwala Electric Supply Company (GEPCO) Rs5.337 billion, Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) Rs2.704 billion, Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) Rs9.101 billion, Multan Electric Supply Company (MEPCO) Rs10.657 billion, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) Rs2.129 billion, Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) Rs1.184 billion, Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) Rs3.663 billion, Sukkur Electric Supply Company (SEPCO) Rs905 million and Tribal Electric Supply Company (TESCO) Rs1.282 billion for the said period. NEPRA would announce its detailed judgment after reviewing all the statistics.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk