The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Wednesday approved an increase of Re0.57 per unit in electricity prices. The increase was approved on account of the fuel adjustment charges for December 2018, said the officials. According to the reports the surge in power price will put a burden of Rs4.2bn on consumers. NEPRA officials said that Rs5.10bn could be saved, if the power plants had been run on the Liquefied natural gas (LNG).

While Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) officials said that plants could not be run as Liquefied natural gas was not available to plants.

The NEPRA, on November 14, had approved an increase of Rs. 0.41 per unit in the electricity tariff. The decision was taken by NEPRA in a public hearing on the petition filed by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) and will have a cumulative burden of around Rs 3.8 billion on the consumers.

The electric power regulator had announced the hike in tariff on account of fuel adjustment charges for the month of October. In its comments NEPRA chairman had said that in October the use of furnace oil was increased causing hike in per unit power generation cost.

Copyright Independent News Pakistan, 2019