ISLAMABAD, March 19: Wapda has recommended around 50-60 paisa per unit reduction in the tariff for industrial, commercial and big domestic consumers with immediate effect.
"We have recommended an average 13 per cent reduction in the tariff for industrial, commercial and domestic consumers with a monthly consumption of 1,000 units and above," a senior Wapda official told Dawn, adding a summary to the effect was sent to the ministry about a week ago.
Power rates for domestic users consuming less than 1,000 units a month would remain unchanged because of cross subsidies available to them, he pointed out. He said the cutback was proposed on the directive of Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali who wanted to pass on to consumers the partial benefit of higher water availability during the last six months.
The official said the reduction for industrial consumers was proposed at around 60 paisa per unit, followed by 55 paisa per unit for commercial consumers and about 50 paisa per unit for big domestic consumers.
The impact of the proposed reduction on Wapda revenue would be around Rs2.9 billion over a period of six months, he said. The official said Wapda and the prime minister wanted to effect the tariff reduction directly to the consumers but the ministries of finance and water and power opposed the move. They want the proposal to go through the routine approval process at the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority.
He said the finance ministry had some objections over the proposed tariff reduction. He declined to elaborate. The Wapda's fuel bill came down by around Rs2.6 billion during the first half of the current year owing to the higher than estimated hydel power generation.
At a recent meeting, the prime minister desired to pass on the benefits of such savings to consumers. The official said the proposed relief had nothing to do with long-term reductions suggested by a special task force on power tariff.
