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Govt submits electricity tariff hike notification in SC
ISLAMABAD: The government has submitted the notification for the hike in the electricity tariff in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The notification was submitted by the deputy attorney general.
Earlier, during proceedings of the suo moto case over load shedding, the apex court had given the government until Wednesday to submit the notification.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had inquired about the procedure for increasing the electricity tariff. According to the Chief Justice, the government was not authorised to issue this notification.
MD PEPCO informed the apex court that the recent increase was carried out by the government not PEPCO and National Distribution Companies (NDC).
Justice Jawaad S Khawaja remarked that without approval from NEPRA, the government could not raise prices. Chief Justice Chaurdhy added that in the international market the prices of petrol and diesel were decreasing while it was the opposite in Pakistan.
According to the notification issued on Monday, consumers utilizing up to 200 units would be exempted from this increase.
The notification shows Rs 5.89 per unit increase for the domestic consumers using power from 201 to 300 units. Now they will have to pay Rs14 per unit instead of Rs8.11.
In the same way, Rs3.67 per unit has been increased for the consumers using 301 to 700 units. They have to pay Rs 16 per unit instead of Rs12.33.
Consumers using 701 and more units per month will pay Rs. 2.93 per unit more. For them per unit rate will be Rs18 instead of Rs15.01.
The domestic consumers having ‘Time of Use’ meters can bear Rs4 per unit hike in the peak hours.
Courtesy www.geo.tv