By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet is yet to give a go-ahead to phasing in a power tariff hike of Rs7.92/unit as committed with the IMF, which might have consequences for the bailout pogramme, it is learnt.
The IMF was assured that the first phase of power tariff hike would take effect from July 1, 2022, but it could not be implemented.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has determined the electricity tariff hike by Rs7.92/unit. It is one of the Prior Actions (PAs) placed by the IMF that must be implemented from July 1, 2022 but so far no progress has been made on it. The hike in power tariff cannot be notified with retrospective effect so now the government will notify the power tariff hike after taking its allies into confidence.
Talking to Independent Pakistan, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir confirmed the government was yet to approve and notify the NEPRA-determined tariff.
Moreover, the subsidy granted by the Punjab government to all consumers using less than 100 units of electricity is likely to become another bone of contention between Pakistan and the IMF. Now the Center has advised the Punjab government to provide this relief to those consumers, using less than 100 units/month, who had consumed units less than the limit in the last six months. These are the lowest income groups and the Ministry of Power has estimated that it should not cost more than Rs46 billion/month.
However, some other estimates suggest that if the subsidy is provided to the consumers that have used less than 100 units in the last month then it will cost Rs148 billion, which is not sustainable. But the provincial government high-ups argued that the Punjab government will reduce its development budget to finance the subsidy.
The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet had already granted its approval for raising electricity tariff of 7.92/unit in a phased manner and the first installment of Rs3.25/unit would be made effective from July 1, 2022.
The second phase of tariff increase will be implemented in August 2022 and the third will be notified in October 2022.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
