The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday approved a hike in the power tariff by Rs7.9 per unit on account of an increase in fuel prices, capacity cost and the impact of the rupee's devaluation.

In a brief, the power regulator said: "The tariff has been determined for the FY2022-23, which on national average is Rs.24.82 per kilowatt hour (or unit), higher by Rs.7.9078/kWh than the earlier determined national average tariff of Rs16.91/kWh."

Nepra said it determined different consumer-end tariffs for each distribution company (XWDiscos), owing to their different revenue requirements and varied levels of technical and distribution losses allowed to them.

"The determined tariffs have been intimated to the federal government. The federal government as per Nepra Act is required to file an application for determination of uniform tariff for all the Discos," it said.

It added that the uniform tariff, determined by Nepra after incorporating the amount of subsidy/surcharges intimated by the government, is forwarded to the government for notification. "The tariff once notified is then charged to the consumers."

It went on to say that the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco), Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco), Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco), Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco), Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and Tribal Electric Supply Company (Tesco) had filed multi-year tariff petitions for FY 2020-21 to 2024-25

Islamabad Electric Supply Company, Lahore Electric Supply Company and Faisalabad Electric Supply Company had filed annual adjustment/indexation request under the already allowed multi-year tariff, the statement said.

The brief by the regulator also said that the energy purchase price was projected at Rs1.5 trillion, while the cost of capacity charges was projected as Rs1.3 trillion.

"Total revenue requirement of XWDiscos, including Discos margin and prior year adjustment, is projected as Rs2.8 trillion with projected sales of 113,001 gigawatt hours (GWh)," it said.

Mepco, Gepco, Hesco, Sepco, Qesco, Pesco and Tesco have been allowed an investment of around Rs406 billion for their distribution investment programme for the five-year period, the regulator said, adding that the technical and distribution losses of XWDiscos were reduced from 13.46 per cent to 11.70pc for the FY 2022-23.

The decision comes after the government increased the prices of petroleum products by Rs30 per litre in a move aimed at placating the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an economic bailout.

Last week, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadiq Malik had warned that an increase in electricity tariff would follow fuel price adjustment through withdrawal of subsidies.

In addition, inflation during the month of May rose to a nearly two-and-a-half-year-high at 13.76 per cent, on the back of increasing transport and food prices. Inflation accelerated from 13.37pc year-on-year (YoY) in April, marking a 0.44pc month-on-month (MoM) rise in May.