Islamabad
President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Mian Anjum Nisar has urged the government to reduce electricity tariff to the competitive level of regional countries on permanent basis.
In a statement on Sunday, he said Pakistan exports cannot compete with China, Bangladesh and India where power tariffs were 7-9 cents, particularly in the post-corona economic slowdown as the country’s exports have been witnessing a major setback in present days due to high cost of electricity, which has become a major stumbling block in industrial development and boosting exports..
“FPCCI welcomes the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to provide accumulated relief of Rs 4.46 billion to the power consumers as it has decided power tariff for eight months of Nov 2019 to June 2020 for power distribution companies (DISCOs) under the formula of monthly fuel charges adjustment, but this is not a permanent solution,” he stated.
He pointed out that NEPRA has also decided to increase in electricity rates for five months of Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb and March with accumulated impact of Rs 4.86 per unit, putting an additional burden of billions of rupees on industrial consumers.
He said that electricity is regarded as the lifeline of any economy and plays a pivotal role in socio-economic development of a country. The demand for electricity has been rising consistently mainly due to growing industrial requirement and population explosion but unfortunately, power generation and supply have not been able to meet this rising demand of electricity. –INP
