ISLAMABAD, April 4: The Wapda has submitted a revised petition to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) for base tariff rationalisation to meet around Rs35 billion cash deficit.

Authentic sources told Dawn that a Wapda team led by general manager finance Mohammad Amjad has also briefed Nepra’s member tariff Abdul Rahim on the petition. A Nepra source confirmed that a tariff petition has been received but said it has not been admitted for public hearing.

A senior official of the power ministry said that Wapda had filed the petition on Dec 1, 2001, but the regulator had advised the utility to give specific figures and extent of required tariff increase.

The Wapda had, however, told the Nepra that it had a cash shortfall of Rs35bn and the regulator should decide the extent of tariff increase to meet this shortfall.

According to the Wapda estimates, 10 per cent increase in tariff translates into Rs9.6 billion which means that Rs35 billion revenue generation would require around 34 per cent increase in tariff.

“This is a continuation of the petition pending with Nepra since December and would take a lot of time, consultations and deliberations to reach a conclusion,” said the officials when asked as to why the tariff increase was required at this stage when President Gen Pervez Musharraf had recently withdrawn a 5.5 paisa per unit increase for domestic consumers on account of fuel adjustment granted by the regulator.