ISLAMABAD – The government notified the imposition of a 2 percent surcharge on the power tariff on Tuesday with immediate effect. The surcharge was finalised after a meeting of the ministries of law and water and power, an official source said, adding that a similar surcharge would be imposed in April and May.
The government has opted to impose the surcharge because it had already passed on the complete determined tariff by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), so the differential could be only made up by imposing the surcharge. Usually the national tariff is based on the tariff determined for the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO), which is the most efficient, having the lowest line-losses of seven percent.
The government, said the source, maintained a uniform tariff because otherwise the tariff of inefficient DISCOs in other provinces would be much higher than the ones in Punjab, which could result in political backlash.
