The Senate Committee on Power met on Tuesday under the Chairmanship of Senator Saifullah Abro to discuss the issue of inflated electricity bills leading to restlessness among the masses and unanimously recommended removing the tariff increase below usage of 200 units.
The committee received a detailed briefing from the Power Division. The chairman committee, after deliberating at length, concluded that the only resolution to this energy crisis is to make efforts to review the agreements of independent power producers (IPPs) in detail and the estimated price be reevaluated as per the legal framework.
The committee expressed its serious reservation on the non-provision of 10-year breakdown of payments made to IPPs and resented that CPPA-G should know these details.
The committee was apprised that there are a total of 104 IPPs and some have signed the IPPs relief agreement where tariff rates are being revised. It was further told that the Ministry of Finance is negotiating with the IMF, and is operating under the framework agreed with the IMF.
The officials said that people will benefit from revised agreements with IPPs. The committee sought detailed data on the IPPs, estimated figures of tariff, and the basis on which it was earlier finalized. The committee sought details on policies drafted for electricity theft.
The committee while deliberating at length the rebasing of financial year 2022-23 was apprised that 63.5 percent of total domestic consumers will have zero tariff increase while 31.6 percent will see an increase from Rs. 3 to Rs. 6.5 per unit.
It was further briefed that only 4.9 percent of the total domestic consumers will have a tariff increase of Rs. 7.5 percent unit. The average tariff increase for domestic consumers will be Rs. 3.82 per unit and all other categories will have a tariff increase of Rs. 7.5 per unit.
The committee unanimously recommended removing the tariff increase below usage of 200 units. The committee urged to draft policies in favor of the vulnerable classes. The committee observed that the rebasing and tariff increase does not show uniformity.
The meeting was attended by Senators Fida Muhammad, Zeeshan Khanzada, Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmedzai, Haji Hidayatullah Khan, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Hafiz Abdul Karim and Senator Sana Jamali.
Source: Pro Pakistani