September 11, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: The government has increased electricity tariff for Azad Kashmir and industrial consumers by 170 per cent and 40 per cent respectively with immediate effect. Rates for domestic consumers using more than 700 units per month have been increased by 60 per cent.

In a related move, the cabinet division asked distribution companies of Wapda on Wednesday not to implement higher electricity rates in Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Gujranwala because the matter was sub judice.

According to a notification, the rates for Azad Kashmir have been increased to Rs7 per unit from Rs2.59.

The rates for commercial consumers using less than 5KW load (A-2) have been increased by 35 per cent to Rs10.50 from Rs7.86 per unit. Likewise, commercial consumers using more than 5KW load would now pay Rs8 per unit against Rs4.97, up by Rs3 per unit or 61 per cent.

The tariff for industrial (B-1) consumers has been raised to Rs7.50 per unit from Rs6, up by 25 per cent, while B-2 consumers would experience a raise of more than 40 per cent to Rs7.50 per unit from Rs4.63.

Similarly, peak rates for B-2 consumers have gone up from Rs10 to Rs12 per unit and off-peak rates from Rs4.28 to Rs6 per unit.

The tariff for B-3 industrial consumers has been increased by 25 per cent to Rs11.90 from Rs9.59. However, the rates for agricultural consumers remained unchanged.

The tariff for first 100 units in the domestic category has been increased by 20 per cent to Rs3.08 per unit and those consuming up to 300 units per month will be charged at Rs4.43 per unit instead of Rs4.08.

Domestic consumers using 1-700 units will be charged at a uniform rate of Rs5.65 per unit against Rs6.53. Apparently, the new rates for this category are low, but since they will not get the benefit of lower rates of the first two slabs, their bills would go up by 30 per cent per month.

Likewise, domestic consumers using more than 700 units will be charged at Rs10 per unit against Rs7.79 -- an increase of Rs2.21 per unit or 40 per cent.

The rates for consumers using 700-1000 units have been raised by 60 per cent because they have been moved into the most expensive slab.