LAHORE
The electricity prices have doubled and the television fees collected through electricity bills have increased by 50 percent since the menace of load shedding started in December 2007 and the present government assumed power in March 2008, while consumers have been warned of more tariff hikes, Pakistan Today has learnt.
When load shedding started, consumers were enjoying low prices of electricity and subsidies were also provided on certain tariffs. Commercial and industrial power tariffs had increased by 120 percent, causing a lot of problems for businessmen and industrialists alike.
Despite the power tariff hike, consumers were repeatedly told by government authorities that load shedding could not be controlled due to low prices and low electricity production.
The electricity prices were increased by 59 to 70 percent while new taxes were also imposed on the electricity tariff resulting in a total increase of 100 percent in nearly three years. The previous government used to provide subsidies on electricity prices but the present government had withdrawn the facility.
Consumers were given relief in general sales tax (GST) in December 2007 but it was also withdrawn in mid-2008. The television fee was also increased by Rs 10 per electricity meter. Earlier, people had to pay Rs 25 as PTV fees, which was increased to Rs 35.
The PTV fee was imposed by former prime minister Shaukat Aziz’s government in 2006, and the present government continued charging the same amount in electricity bills.
Although Karachi was facing power outages before December 2007, the whole country started facing load shedding in 2008 and the duration of power outages increased to 16 hours daily afterwards.
According to many political analysts, load shedding was one of the major reasons behind the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) defeat in the 2008 general elections. After the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led federal government assumed power in March 2008, the general public was expecting to receive relief from load shedding.
The federal government promised the masses that load shedding would end by December 2009 but at the same time, electricity prices had to be increased. Afterwards, things only went from bad to worse, as electricity prices skyrocketed while the federal government also imposed GST in January 2009. Later, the federal government introduced a new type of formula named Monthly Fuel Price Adjustment, in which electricity prices were linked with fuel prices, which further increased the power tariff.
A Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) official said that since the formula’s introduction, distribution companies had seldom given any relief to consumers. He said that despite a reduction in fuel prices, the power tariff was not reduced.
“The consumers were only given relief once whereas fuel prices remained volatile and often decreased,” he added. The increase in the electricity prices could not provide any relief to consumers who were still facing torturous load shedding while the federal government had withdrawn all subsidies being provided to consumers owing to an increase in the circular debt.
“It’s really unfair that despite paying high bills, consumers were facing outages of 10 to 14 hours,” Farooq Shah, a businessman lamented.
