The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Thursday approved a hike in electricity tariff by Rs. 7.91 per unit. According to the details, the depreciation of the Pakistan Rupee and rising oil prices in the international market have been cited as the main reasons behind the hike in power tariff.
It bears mentioning that NEPRA has sent the increased electricity tariff to the federal government for notification and it will become applicable once the federal government issues the final notification in this regard. Furthermore, the NEPRA has fixed the national average electricity tariff for the financial year (FY2022-23) at Rs. 24.82 per unit, which is 7.91 per unit higher than the previous average tariff.
The Rs. 7.91 increase in the electricity tariff comes just two days after NEPRA approved another increase of Rs. 3.99 per unit in the power tariff on account of Fuel Cost Adjustment (FCA) for the month of April 2022. The decision had placed an additional burden of Rs. 51 billion on the power consumers.
However, the price hike in the electricity tariff will not apply to K-Electric consumers and Lifeline users.
It is pertinent to mention that the Federal Government has also announced another massive increase of Rs. 30 per litre in the price of petroleum products from 3 June 2022. This decision comes just a few days after the government increased the prices of these commodities by Rs. 30 per litre.
Read more: Government raises prices of petroleum products.