ISLAMABAD, July 25: The electricity prices have increased by 10 per cent to 47 per cent since the military takeover in October 1999, official figures suggest.

The increase was in addition to a phased withdrawal of 30 per cent subsidy announced by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for domestic consumers following resolution of tariff dispute with independent power producers in 1998.

The tariff increase also does not include the imposition of 15 per cent general sales tax on electricity, being recovered from all sections except small domestic consumers since 1999.

There were 15 tariff revisions, excluding withdrawal of subsidy and imposition of GST, approved by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) since March 1999 and 11 power tariff revisions after October 1999.

These included tariff revisions because of automatic fuel adjustment.

The last tariff increase of an average 40 paisa per unit announced by Nepra was not implemented following President Pervez Musharraf’s intervention though a lower increase would have to be implemented shortly through a review request under Section 31 of the Nepra Act.

During September 1999 to February 2002, the tariff increase for domestic consumers using up to 150 units per month amounted to 26 per cent (47 paisa per unit), 17 per cent (48 paisa per unit) for up to 300 units, 9.5 per cent (49 paisa per unit) for up to 700 units and 5.2 per cent (35 paisa per unit) for more than 700 units.

The Water and Power development Authority has 10 million domestic consumers.

The tariff increased by 9.9 per cent (48 paisa per unit) for commercial consumers, 33.5 per cent (125 paisa per unit) for industrial consumers and 47 per cent (160 paisa per unit) for bulk consumers.

The tariff for agriculture tubewells increased by 12 per cent (49 paisa per unit) and 30 per cent (126 paisa per unit) for railway traction.

In September 1999, the cost for up to 100 units was Rs1.82 per unit, Rs2.78 per unit for up to 200 units, Rs5.19 per unit for next 700 units, Rs6.70 per unit for the next 3,000 units and Rs7.26 per unit for above 4,000 units.

The cost for first 100 units increased to Rs2.29 per unit, Rs3.26 for the next 200 units, Rs5.68 for the next 700 units and Rs7.05 for above 1,000 units in February 2002.

The per unit cost for first 100 units for commercial consumers increased from Rs7.04 in 1999 to Rs7.15 in February 2002 and from Rs7.41 per unit to Rs7.52 per unit for above 100 units. A total of 200,000 consumers fall in the commercial category.

The per unit cost for B-2 (industrial consumers) increased from Rs4 to Rs5.33 and B-2 peak increased from Rs3.73 to Rs4.98 since 1999. About 1.8 million consumers fall under this category.

The bulk supply tariff increased from Rs3.41 per unit in 1999 to Rs5.01 per unit in 2002 while tariff for railway traction increased from Rs4.26 to Rs5.54 per unit.

Similarly, the tariff for agriculture tubewells increased from Rs4.117 in September 1999 to Rs4.60 per unit in February 2002.

The tariff increase announced by Nepra last week was almost equal to the cumulative increase that took place during the last three years.

In percentage terms, the increase granted by Nepra for domestic consumers averaged 15 per cent, industrial nine per cent, commercial one per cent and tubewells by 18 per cent.