PM seeks measures to reduce excessive electricity bills in 48 hours

Islamabad: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Sunday directed to present concrete plan in next 48 hours rationalizing the power tariff.

He chaired an emergency meeting regarding electricity bills in Islamabad today [Sunday].

The Caretaker Prime Minister said such measures should be taken, which would not exert burden on the national exchequer, and provide convenience to the consumers. He also directed that power sector reforms and short, medium and long term plans should be presented at the earliest.

The Prime Minister also directed the relevant ministries to provide complete details of the officers and institutions enjoying the free electricity.

It was also decided during the meeting that detailed consultation on the issue of excess in bills of July and implementation of energy saving measures will be discussed with the provincial chief ministers tomorrow [Monday].

Earlier,  Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi said that a press release regarding an important meeting on power tariffs held earlier in the day will be shared with media shortly.

In a tweet, he said that the meeting on power tariffs and other allied issues was presided over by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar.

Furthermore, the Electricity tariff has remained unchanged for 63.5 per cent of domestic consumers.

It was revealed at a media briefing jointly held by Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi along with Federal Secretary of the Power Division Rashid Mahmood Langrial, in Islamabad on Saturday.

Responding to the media queries, the Secretary Power Division said the unit of electricity was increased from 3 rupees to 6.5 rupees for 31.6 percent domestic consumers.

He further revealed electricity unit was increased to 7.5 rupees for only 4.9 percent domestic consumers.

He informed the media that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority determined electricity tariffs by using three distinct methodologies.

Highlighting the reasons of high prices of electricity, he said two trillions rupees will be paid next year under the capacity payments.

He said the price of imported coal was recorded in between 51 to 61 thousand rupees per metric ton. He said we made plan to set the price of RLNG to 3183 MMBTU but, its price was recorded in between 3000 to 3800 rupees.

Moving along, the secretary said we notified the rates according to the dollar rate of 195 but the rate of dollar was raised to 284 rupees in the fiscal year 2023.

He said that rising in the Karachi Inter-Bank Offered Rate also necessitates changes in tariffs and we also witness the change in the prices of electricity due to the fuel price adjustment.

The Power Division Secretary said the facility of the provision of free electricity units to the officers of distribution companies is being discontinued and he further emphasized that the burden is not being transferred to regular bill-paying individuals.