04 November 2004	Thursday	20 Ramazan 1425

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: The power tariff of nine distribution companies (Discos) of Wapda is likely to be reduced by the 10 to 12 per cent for industrial and commercial consumers in a couple of days on the recommendation of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Dawn has learnt.

However, for domestic consumers of five loss-making distribution companies of Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Tribal areas and to some extent Multan electric supply company, the tariff is likely to slightly increase. The tariff of Discos in Punjab - Islamabad, Gujranwala, Lahore and Faisalabad- may remain unchanged.

The tariff for lifeline consumers using up to 50 units per month would remain unchanged at Re1.40 per unit. The removal of cross subsidies for higher slabs of domestic consumers would increase and would vary from one company to another. The maximum difference of tariff among various companies is Re1 per unit, a senior government official said.

A meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz most probably on Thursday will decide whether or not to provide subsidy and to what extent to the above mentioned loss-making companies to keep the domestic tariff uniform across the country.

A meeting presided over by Minister for Water and Power Liaqat Ali Jatoi and attended by senior representatives of Nepra, Wapda and ministries of finance and water and power, prepared four different scenarios for consideration of the prime minister.

The working paper for the prime minister was prepared on strong recommendations of the ministry of finance because it has to submit a final decision on tariff revision to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at least 20 days before its executive board meeting scheduled for Dec 1.

This would enable the government to draw last tranche of the $1.47 billion Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), after which Pakistan will not seek further economic package from the IMF.