ISLAMABAD: Protesting against the revised incremental consumption package (ICP) for industry and agriculture, industrial consumers have asked the government to order an independent third-party audit for verification of power sector data and suspend till then the two-part electricity tariff.
In formal letters to the government, Korangi Association of Trade & Industry (Kati) has called for top level intervention to avoid the cost of special ICP burden on all other consumers while attempting to provide benefit to a select group of industry instead of reducing power rates to all industries.
It said the Rs25.30 per unit revised ICP against the actual marginal cost of Rs31.83 or Rs29.65 per unit calculated by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Nov 6 was resulting in higher monthly fuel costs adjustments (FCAs) and burdening all consumer categories across the country.
Top-level intervention sought to avoid ICP burden on all power consumers
This was despite the fact that the ICP announced in December last year on the instruction of the prime minister was based on the commitment that any additional cost arising from ICP would remain ring-fenced and the difference between consumer-end tariff and ICP would not be shifted to any other consumer category, except the ICP beneficiaries.
The Nepra’s decision of Nov 6, 2026, on the semi-annual review of the Incremental Consumption Package (approved on Dec 9, 2025 at Rs22.98/kWh) records serious failures in the data and analysis that the Power Division, Power Planning & Monitoring Company (PPMC) and Independent System & Market Operator (ISMO) were required to provide, wrote Kati President Shaikh Umer Rehan in letters to Power Minister Awais Khan Leghari, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Energy retired Gen Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and Nepra Chairman Waseem Mukhtar.
The Kati demanded that one of the big four accounting firms in the country should be appointed with power sector modelling support to independently audit the data, PLEXOS (an integrated simulation modelling and forecasting software) inputs and processes of PPMC and ISMO, and share the report with Nepra and all other stakeholders.
It also demanded that a Rs180bn shortfall between average tariff and ICP should be addressed through a meaningful reduction in the industrial tariff, bringing each voltage level (B1 to B4 consumer categories) to its Nepra-determined cost of service, rather than through recovery from ordinary consumers.
Kati president also called for deferring any two-part tariff until the modelling has been independently audited and shared with stakeholders and ensure that Nepra’s deadlines regarding provision of data and review of ICP impacts be complied with.
On top of this, the trade and business body also urged complete disclosure of amounts recovered from consumers through the FCAs on account of the incremental consumption package.
The industry recalled that the package was approved on the assurance that beneficiaries would pay at least the actual marginal cost and that no other consumer would bear any part of it.
The review was due after May 31, 2026. Nepra wrote to the power ministry on June 16 which submitted the data on July 29 but contained no marginal-cost analysis. On September 9, the power ministry asked Nepra to conduct the review itself. Even its subsequent reply of Oct 15 “did not furnish the specific analysis and recommendations sought”, according to Nepra judgement of Nov 6.
However, Nepra estimated the marginal electricity cost at about Rs31.83 per unit, or Rs29.65 after ISMO’s operational tags, against Rs22.98 under Dec 2025 ICP.
Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2026
