PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has stopped the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) from recovering an outstanding amount from nine industrial units on account of quarterly tariff adjustment imposed by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).

A bench consisting of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Abdul Shakoor Khan sought comments within a fortnight from the Nepra and federal energy secretary on a petition filed by the Friends Glass Private Limited, Industrial Estate Gadoon Amazai and eight others against the Nepra’s decision to impose quarterly tariff adjustment in monthly bills of power consumers.

It fixed Sept 22 for next hearing into the petition.

The petitioners contended that the demand of amount on account of quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) was unjustified, illegal and liable to be set aside.

Seeks comments of Nepra, ministry on petition against tariff adjustment

They requested the court to declare the impugned demand of QTA without any proper notification by the federal government illegal and without lawful authority.

Lawyer for the petitioners Isaac Ali Qazi said his clients were charged for electricity consumption under industrial tariff as determined by the Nepra under the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997, commonly known as the Nepra Act.

He contended that the petitioners were billed on a monthly basis and once the bills were paid, it became a past and closed transaction between the petitioners and the respondents regarding consumption of electricity for that particular month.

The lawyer said the petitioners were billed according to the said mechanism until June/July 2019 and not a single penny was outstanding against them until then.

He contended that through a decision on June 14, 2019, the Nepra determined the QTA for the period of first and second quarters for the year 2018-19 and specifically a notification was issued in that respect on June 28, 2019, to charge the petitioners with retrospective effect.

Mr Qazi said the petitioners and several other industrial units had challenged the said decision before the high court.

He said on Sept 3, 2020, the high court set aside the impugned notification and decision of the Nepra and referred the matter back to the authority .

The lawyer, however, contended that the Nepra on Oct 29, 2020, upheld its previous decision while ignoring the contention of the petitioners.

He argued that until now, electricity bills of the petitioners and other units were corrected and an amount of QTA had been deleted but the Nepra through a letter on June 11 to its subordinate officers had directed for recovery of the impugned QTA.

Mr Qazi said the Pesco had issued the entire amount as arrears in one go, which was without mandatory notification of the federal government.

He argued that the Nepra’s decision of Oct 29, 2020, and its letter of June 11, 2021, had adversely affected all factories and industrial units of this province and that it would be beyond them to pay those inflated bills.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021