The NEPRA on Tuesday has issued notification of increase in power tariff by Rs 1.67 per unit. New tariff will go into effect next month. The increase has been announced as per monthly fuel adjustment for September 2011. Last year, NEPRA had approved increase in power tariff by RS 1.76 per unit in September. After the Supreme Court decision against the rental power plants, Rs 0.8 had been reduced from the per unit cost of production while Rs 0.2 being charged in the head of power theft will not be charged anymore. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Water and Power has announced that power outages will continue for the next six months. The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Water and Power has been told that India’s private sector has shown interest in providing electricity to Pakistan. Officials at Water and Power Ministry told the committee that electricity shortfall would remain at 4, 200 MW from April to September. Officials said that power demand would remain at 19, 300 MW against the supply of 15, 000 MW. Imtiaz Qazi, Secretary, Water and Power, told the committee that India’s private sector is interested to provide electricity to Pakistan. A summary, he said, has been forwarded to the cabinet in this regard. He said that daily closure of markets at 8am could save 1200 MW of electricity. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has stopped implementation of most of the decisions taken at Energy Conference.
