Islamabad: In a major development, the federal government on Wednesday conceded to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) demand and slapped a permanent Rs3.23 per unit debt surcharge on electricity to recover Rs335 billion from consumers.
The decision was taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet, presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, which also fixed the minimum wheat procurement price at Rs3,900 per 40 kg, a whopping 77% increase.
To provide some sort of relief to the masses, the ECC also approved an Rs5 billion Ramazan Relief package through the Utility Stores Corporation (USC).
Details showed that the consumers using up to 300 units would bear a surcharge of Rs1.96 per unit and pay a total of Rs141 billion. The rest of the domestic consumers will be charged Rs3.23 per unit to collect another Rs30 billion.
Commercial and industrial consumers will also be charged Rs3.23 per unit to recover Rs30 billion from commercial and Rs107 billion from industrial consumers. Agricultural tube wells will be charged Rs2.19 per unit for getting an additional Rs25 billion.
The permanent debt servicing surcharge would also be applied to K-Electric (KE) consumers to maintain uniform tariffs across the country, said the finance ministry.
KE consumers would pay a total additional tariff of Rs8 per unit from March to May in the current fiscal year, as the ECC also approved two quarterly surcharges, totalling Rs4.77 per unit. From July, they will be subject to a surcharge of Rs3.23 per unit.
