The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), in a report, has stated that there are certain surcharges in electricity bills which have nothing to do with a consumer’s power consumption.
The top authority, in its State of the Industry Report 2022, stressed the need to stop charging consumers with irrelevant taxes and surcharges, while the billing system requires restructuring.
The report also stated that an increase of Rs107 billion has been observed in capacity payments within the past one year. On the other hand, it added, capacity payments worth Rs721 billion were made from 2021 to 2022, which were only Rs614 billion until 2021.
Nepra said that expensive power plants were utilised following the shortage of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which imposed an extra burden on consumers worth over Rs19 billion.
“Despite the demand for electricity across the country, even the best power plants could not be operated.”
