ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: The Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and the Quetta Electric Supply Company have demanded increases in the tariffs during the current fiscal year.

During a public hearing which was conducted by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority on the tariff petitions filed by the two companies, the Hesco demanded an increase of 19.64 per cent in the tariff while the Qesco demanded 109 per cent increase.

Nepra Chairman Saeeduz Zafar presided the hearing while Fazlullah Qureshi, Mansoor Elahi and Sardar Mohammad Sharif Khan were also included in the Nepra panel.

Under agreements with the donors, the government has to introduce separate tariffs for all distribution companies with effect from December 31 this year.

A Nepra member said the authority would now conduct the hearing of the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) which would ultimately lead to the separate tariffs for all the distribution companies.

He said the tariff would vary for consumers of different companies on the basis of their losses because all other components of the tariff like inflation, NTDC tariff and O&M cost were almost same for all companies.

The member said the Nepra would ask the government to provide a equalising factor on the basis of losses if it wanted to maintain a uniform tariff across the country.

The Hesco demanded that in order to maintain its financial health, a 19.64 per cent increase in tariff should be allowed.

The company indicated that it would make an investment of Rs11.1 billion over the next five years and gave an energy loss target of 22.38 per cent by the year 2007-08 from the existing level of 32 per cent. The company claimed a distribution margin of Rs0.99 per unit for financial year 2003-04.

Similarly, the Qesco demanded that in order to maintain its financial health, a 109 per cent increase in the tariff should be allowed.

The Qesco would make an investment of Rs4.5 billion in the next five years and line loss reduction target would be brought down from 18 per cent in 2003-04 to 16 per cent in 2007-08. It claimed a distribution margin of Rs2.04 per unit for the financial year 2003-04.

The Nepra directed the two companies to adopt a transparent mechanism to show the subsidies granted to certain set of consumers and this subsidy should not be taken into account as a revenue requirement.

Experts demanded that the Nepra should keep the consumers’ interest supreme and direct the utilities to decrease their losses and costs to meet their revenue targets rather than allowing an increase in tariff.

The Nepra would now hold in-house deliberations on the tariff petitions of various distribution companies.