The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has increased the power tariff by Rs3.99 per unit on account of fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for April 2022.
It will put a Rs58.5 billion burden on the consumers for the month of April, including 17% GST.
According to a notification, April’s fuel cost adjustment (FCA) will be charged with the bill for June 2022.
Except for lifeline and K-Electric consumers, all consumer categories of distribution companies will pay for it.
Read more: Country faces electricity shortfall?
The adjustment will be shown separately in the consumers’ bills. The notification read, “XWDISCOs shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of April 2022 in the billing month of June 2022.”
The fuel cost adjustment (FCA) would remain applicable for only a month.
Earlier, a fuel cost adjustment (FCA) of Rs4.5 per unit was requested by the Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guarantee Limited (CPPA-G) for April 2022 for XWDISCOs.
In today’s hearing, the authority approved the tariff hike, which is Rs1.13 higher than the FCA of March.
The power tariff has been increased at a time when the electricity shortfall in Pakistan has widened to over 7,000 megawatts.
Geo News cited power division sources as saying that electricity demand in the country has surged to 28,200 megawatts amid the scorching weather.
But the total power generation in the country amounts to 21,200 megawatts.
Due to the power shortfall of over 7,000 megawatts, unannounced load-shedding of ten to eleven hours is being carried out in different parts of the country.
Read more: Power outage stops work at Sindh High Court
In areas carrying higher line losses, however, the duration of load shedding is more than 12 hours.
Geo News said the sources noted that the schedule load shedding procedure is not being applied due to the unavailability of data. The K-Electric company in Karachi observes 9-10 hours of load shedding daily.
The incumbent PML-N government has struggled to resolve the nagging problem of power outages since it came to power in April. Although Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had vowed to immediately end the crisis, it lingers with no relief.