Government should make sufficient cut in power tariff as the minor reduction of just Rs0.05 per unit by NEPRA was just an eye wash and would not provide any relief to private sector and the general public. This was the consensus opinion of businessmen in a meeting at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI).
Chairing the meeting, Mr. Mehmood Ahmed Warraich, Senior Vice President, ICCI said that power tariff in Pakistan was highest in the region as it was 10.5 cents in India & 10.75 in Balgladesh and Sri Lanka while it was more than 15 cents in Pakistan.
He said the current regime has almost doubled the power rates in its tenure. This single factor has caused exorbitant hike in production cost and badly eroded the competitiveness of our products in international market, he observed.
He said that due to high power tariffs, Pakistan was losing investment and exports. Therefore, government should seriously consider reducing cost of doing business to facilitate the growth of investment and industrial activities.
The SVP ICCI stressed for exploiting available cheap energy sources including hydro, coal and gas for power generation as our reliance on furnace oil was proving very costly for industry and the economy.
Businessmen also showed great concerns over huge wastage of electricity due to line losses valuing Rs.970.20 millionin August this year. It clearly shows the level of inefficiency and incompetency found in the power distribution companies.
They stressed upon the government to take urgent measures for controlling line losses as the country was losing about 25 percent electricity on this account. Thus by controlling line losses, Pakistan could reduce loadshedding and improve the production capacity of industry.
