ISLAMABAD, April 13: Power tariff for all the consumers of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) has been increased by 12-20 paisa per unit under an interim order of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).
This is for the first time that the tariff increase for the KESC consumers has been kept higher than that of Wapda, because the KESC relied mostly on furnace oil, a senior Nepra official told Dawn. The increase has been made under the automatic fuel adjustment formula.
The interim increase for commercial consumers has been kept at 12 paisa per unit, while the tariff for residential, bulk, public lighting, industrial and railway traction has been increased between 18-20 paisa per unit, the official said.
Residential consumers using up to 50 units per month and agricultural tubewells in Balochistan have been exempted from the tariff increase.
The official said in view of the government’s indecision about the 12-15 paisa per unit increase for Wapda consumers as announced by Nepra last month, the KESC had been given an interim relief to meet its cash needs and a final determination for the corporation would be announced when the government came out with a decision on Wapda tariff.
The official said the interim determination did not mention any date but the consumption during the month of April would be billed as per the new rates when the bills were distributed in May.
He said in view of a nominal impact on KESC’s revenue, Nepra decided not to increase tariff for agricultural tubewells in Balochistan areas which receive power supply from the KESC’s grid system.
The interim increase did not require any formal notification from the government and came into effect on the order of Nepra, the official added.
A six-year (multi-year) structural tariff has already been put in place for the KESC under a long-term strategy approved by Nepra last year in view of its planned privatization, while variable tariff components like fuel oil, inflation and operation and maintenance cost were adjusted on a quarterly basis.
The official did not disclose how much revenue the interim tariff increase would yield to the power utility but said it would adequately meet the fuel and maintenance cost of the KESC that had increased since the previous fuel-based tariff increase late last year.
The Nepra official said the interim order announced now could slightly be different than a final notification to be announced sometime later.
The KESC continues to face financial problems despite a long-term tariff formula in place and heavy investments from the federal government. The government provided Rs5 billion to the KESC last month to pay for electricity it purchased from the independent power producers.
