November 23, 2001	Friday	Ramazan 7, 1422

KARACHI, Nov 22: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) keeps its more than 1,700,000 consumers in the dark about its tariff structure, Dawn learnt here on Thursday.

Well-placed sources said the KESC did not inform its consumers about the rate at which various billings parameters, such as fuel adjustment surcharge, surcharge and additional surcharge, were evaluated. They added that while bills contained many peripheral instructions — for instance, largely ignored advice of using less electricity between 6pm and 11pm — it did not mention how these billing parameters varied in proportion to energy charges.

They added that various billing parameters were employed to keep the energy charges unchanged in the event of an increase in power tariff. In addition, these billing parameters were so confusing that a consumer could not work out his own bill unless he turned to a billing officer for help.

The sources said when the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority had on Oct 19 allowed the KESC to increase consumer tariff by 13 paisas, the power utility should have intimated the consumers how this raise would affect the various billing parameters. Nepra had allowed the raise in power tariff with immediate effect under automatic fuel adjustment mechanism.

When the principal information officer of the KESC was asked why the consumers of the power utility were not informed about the tariff structure through bills, he declined to comment. He also refused to explain at what rate several billing parameters varied in relation with the energy charges.

Sources, however, told Dawn that according to pre-October 19 power tariff for domestic consumers in the category A1-R, for consumption of electricity up to 50 kilowatt-hours, the energy charges were Rs0.54 per kilowatt-hour. For consumption of electricity above 50 kilowatt-hours, the energy charges increased in the following manner: 1 to 100 kilowatt-hours, Rs0.68 per kilowatt-hour; 101 to 300 kilowatt-hours, Rs0.77 per kilowatt- hour; 301 to 1,000 kilowatt-hours, Rs1.10 per kilowatt-hour; 1,001 to 4,000 kilowatt-hours, Rs1.47 per kilowatt-hour; and 4,001 kilowatt-hours to above, Rs1.47 per kilowatt-hour.

The sources added that while electricity duty on energy charges averaged six per cent, its increase in relation to the energy charges was a bit odd. For example, on electricity consumption up to 50 kilowatt-hours, the electricity duty was 5.55 per cent; for 101 to 300 kilowatt-hours, 6.5 per cent; and for 4,001 kilowatt-hours and above, 6.12 per cent.

They said that fuel-adjustment surcharge was Rs0.07 per kilowatt-hour for electricity consumption up to 100 kilowatt- hours, Rs0.15 per kilowatt-hour for electricity consumption between 101 and 300 kilowatt-hours; and Rs0.75 for electricity consumption between 301 and over 4,001 kilowatt-hours.

The sources added that surcharge was 10.4 per cent of the sum of the energy charges and the fuel adjustment sur