ISLAMABAD: The prices of all the major petroleum products are set to go up by up to 9.4 per cent across the country while electricity rates would increase by 48 paisas per unit for consumers in Karachi.

At a public hearing on Tuesday, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) determined a 48-paisa per unit increase in the electricity rates under monthly fuel adjustment for consumption in October.

Presided over by its chairman Tariq Sadozai, Nepra noted that K-Electric had sold about 1.5 billion units to its consumers against a lower reference tariff while the power utility incurred about Rs720 million additional expenditure on account of fuel cost in October. Therefore, this additional cost required to be passed on to the consumer in the next billing month.

K-Electric consumers to pay 48 paisas more for each unit consumed in October

Hike in POL prices: Separately, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Tuesday sent a summary to the government for increase in the prices of petrol, kerosene, high-speed diesel and high octane blending component (HOBC) with effect from Dec 1.

It also suggested a negligible reduction of 13 paisas per litre in the price of light diesel oil.

Now that the political pressure has somewhat eased, the government is expected to pass on the impact of higher international oil prices to the consumers after having absorbed a revenue impact of Rs12bn in first four months of this fiscal year by maintaining the petroleum prices.

Ogra said the prices of all petroleum products (except LDO) had gone up in the international market in November and needed to be passed on to the consumers in December.

In its working paper, Ogra based on existing high tax rates calculated 6.2pc increase in the price of petrol, 7.5pc in high-speed diesel, 6.5pc in kerosene and 9.4pc in the price of HOBC.

Ogra forwarded its working paper to government on the basis of existing tax rates under instructions from Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. A final decision about the adjustment in oil prices would be announced on Wednesday with the approval of the prime minister.

Based on existing tax rates and PSO purchases from international market, Ogra worked out the ex-depot price of petrol at Rs68.28 per litre for December against the current Rs64.27, an increase of Rs4.01 (6.2pc).

The regulator estimated the ex-depot sale price of HSD to go up by Rs5.42 per litre (7.5pc) to Rs77.94 from the existing Rs72.52.

It also worked out an increase of Rs6.82 (9.4pc) in the ex-depot price of HOBC at Rs79.54 per litre.

Likewise, the Ogra calculated the ex-depot price of kerosene to increase by Rs2.81 per litre (6.5pc) to Rs46.06 from Rs43.25.

Also, it worked out 13 paisa per litre (0.3pc) decline in ex-depot sale price of light diesel oil at Rs43.34 against the existing Rs43.21.

Petrol and high speed diesel are the two major products that generate most of revenue in oil sector. The HSD sales across the country are average 600,000 tonnes per month against monthly consumption of around 400,000 tonnes of petrol while kerosene sales are less than 10,000 tonnes per month.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2016