Govt notifies up to 26-paisa per unit hike in power tariff

ISLAMABAD: The government has notified up to 26-paisa per unit increase in power price, which, in turn, will add approximately Rs14 billion heavy burden on the power consumers.

Earlier, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had determined 15-paisa per unit hike in electricity price on the demand of power distributing companies (DISCOs). However, the energy ministry has notified up to 26-paisa per unit hike in electricity price.

According to NEPRA officials, power consumers who use 300 units a month would find no increase in their monthly bills while power consumers (residential category) using 300 to 700 units a month would find 0.7-paisa per unit hike in power bills.

Similarly, power consumers using more than 700 units a month would find up to 15-paisa per unit hike in their electricity bills, while rest of the power consumers, including commercial, industrial, bulk, general services etc., would find up to 26-paisa per unit increase in power tariff.

Officials said that this hike in the power price would be collected from the consumers over a period of one year, starting from 1st December 2019. “The notified increase in power price of power is because of pending increase in electricity price from July to September 2109,” they added.

LNG PRICE REDUCED

On the other hand, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has reduced the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by $0.11 per Million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU) for the month of December 2019.

According to OGRA notification, the LNG price has been fixed at $10.83 per MMBTU on the system of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) while LNG price on the system of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited has been set at $10.82/MMBTU.

Ahmad Ahmadani
Ahmad Ahmadani
The author is a an investigative journalist at Profit. He can be reached at [email protected].

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