PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has referred to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) 31 petitions against ‘hefty’ amounts of fuel price adjustment and quarterly tariff adjustments in electricity bills for decision within 15 days.

Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Syed Arshad Ali disposed of the petitions filed by different domestic, commercial and industrial consumers declaring that the Nepra was the appropriate forum to decide such issues.

The petitioners, including resident Pir Sajjad Ali Shah and several others, had requested the court to declare those ‘excessive’ charges illegal and unconstitutional.

They claimed that the consumers of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company had received highly inflated electricity bills with the FPA, which was almost two times more than the value of the electricity actually consumed.

The petitioners said the cost of electricity was far less than the FPA, which was added to the original bills. They also attached several power bills with their petition.

The respondents in the petition were the Wapda chairman and its general manager (operation), Pesco managing director, secretary of the power division, and chairman of the Pesco board of directors.

The bench observed that the Nepra was set up under the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997, to ensure efficient tariff structure and settle all disputes between licensees and consumers, and perform any function that was incidental and consequential thereto.

The bench observed that the Nepra had the exclusive jurisdiction to determine the tariff, rates, charges and other terms and conditions for supply of electric power service by the generation, transmission and distribution companies.

“For determination of tariff and fuel adjustment and even quarterly tariff adjustment, Nepra follows its notified guideline and other indexes as provided in the power purchase agreement etc of IPPS/Genco. Indeed, determination of tariff, fuel adjustment or other charges requires elaborate discussion considering various legal and factual factors in view of the approved guideline of the federal government as well as Nepra,” the bench observed.

The bench ruled that it, being a constitutional court, had neither any such expertise nor could probe that matter.

It observed that though the petitioners had challenged the said determination and fuel adjustment, quarterly tariff adjustment on various legal grounds, the appropriate forum for the effective resolution of those issues was the Nepra under Section 7(2)(g) and Section 3(1) of the Act and that the Nepra also had the authority to review its orders.

“Since the petitioners didn’t approach the Nepra, we would transmit this petition as well as the connected petitions to it for decision after hearing the parties,” it declared.

Many lawyers appeared for the petitioners. They included Noor Alam Khan, Muzzamil Khan, Shabina Noor, Isaac Ali Qazi, Mufariq Shah, Saeedullah Afridi, Pervez Akhter Shah and others.

The counsel claimed that if a consumer had used electricity to the tune of Rs2,000, he or she had received the monthly electricity bill of Rs4,500, including Rs2,500 FPA.

They added that the issuance of inflated power bills was a violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and it was in the domain of the high court to check such unconstitutional acts.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2022