In a letter sent to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) chairman, the Ministry of Water and Power has argued that it was expecting the regulator to address the identified inaccuracies and deficiencies in the upcoming tariff determination.
A tug of war between the power ministry and NEPRA has intensified as the former snubs the regulator over what it says is a biased attitude in favour of K-Electric and giving it a clean chit after collection of Rs62 billion due to the excessive tariff.
However, surprisingly, the regulator’s first reaction was to clear K-Electric, negating its own finding of 2014 that the power utility was overbilling the consumers in Karachi, it said.
This is the second letter written by the ministry. In its previous correspondence about two weeks ago, the ministry had argued that K-Electric had collected billions of rupees from Karachi consumers through excessive tariff determination.
The ministry wrote the second letter after NEPRA dismissed the claim of additional Rs62 billion payment by K-Electric consumers and termed the ministry’s assertion an attempt to sow seeds of discord in society and weaken the foundation of the federation of Pakistan.
In the latest letter, the power ministry said NEPRA did not fulfil its regulatory responsibilities towards K-Electric consumers in 2015 and 2016 by delaying a decision on returning the excessive profit for almost two years despite having adequate opportunities in around eight quarterly adjustments.
“The unprofessional language in the communication is regretted and despite addressing the issue, NEPRA has taken refuge in the national interest,” the ministry said, insisting that so-called seeds of discord were sown when the regulator turned a blind eye to the interest of consumers.
“National harmony will, in any case, be better served if the highlighted issues are addressed to provide judicious relief to the consumers across the country,” it said.
