ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: After a review of fuel price adjustments made between July 2012 and May this year, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has decided to provide a relief of Rs31 billion to consumers reeling under a skyrocketing tariff hike made on Oct 11.

According to official documents, Nepra has decided to decrease the rate of electricity used in July last year by 62 paisa per unit, for August by 38 paisa, October 50 paisa, November 65 paisa, December 28 paisa, January 62 paisa, February 21paisa, March Rs1.06, April Rs1.77 and May 93 paisa.

The relief will not be applicable to lifeline domestic consumers and the KESC.

For September 2012, a decision to raise the tariff by 15 paisa has been taken. Earlier, Nepra had approved a decrease of 15 paisa per unit for the month.

Following Nepra’s approval, the distribution companies have collected ‘reference fuel cost’ (RFC) from consumers in the monthly bills from July 2012 to March 2013 and will recover the remaining cost for April and May last year over the next two months.

On the basis of the RFC for the financial year 2011-12, the authority had increased the tariff for July last year by 64 paisa and decreased it for August by 26 paisa, September 15 paisa and October 17 paisa.

Nepra approved a 72 paisa increase in the tariff for November, Rs1.10 for December, Rs1.31 for January, 41 paisa for February, Rs1.10 for March, 52 paisa for April and 90 paisa for May.

A Nepra spokesman said a revised notification would be issued after holding a public hearing on Oct 31.