The government has once again decided to raise the power tariff by 12 per cent and a summary has been prepared to be sent to the Law Ministry in this regard. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has already expressed his approval and the summary is expected to reach the Law Ministry on May 2.
According to the authorities, the tariff hike was essential in the light of the $2 billion financial bailout package provided by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. They added that based on the existing production and distribution tariff, the ADB and WB were not agreeing to provide the stimulus to ease the circular debt.
The new schedule would be applicable on all consumers of Wapda’s distributors. Consumers using less that 100 units per month would be unaffected by the tariff hike. Users consuming 1l0-300 units per month would face a tariff hike of 82 paisa to 7.68 rupees per unit. Consumers utilizing 301-700 units per month would have to pay an additional 1.28 to 11.93 rupees per unit. Users consuming more than 700 units per month would face a power hike of 1.60 to 14.5 rupees per unit.