Special body ruling on electricity bills: no late payment surcharge on 60 percent amount

The special committee constituted by the Prime Minister to review the issue of increased power tariff on Friday decided that 60 percent amount of the electricity bills issued to consumers on new rates would be deposited by all the consumers including KESC consumers without late payment surcharge.
The due date of payment has been extended up to 10 days and Pepco directed to issue instructions to all Discos/KESC and the banks accordingly. The committee, which met here, deferred full recovery on the new tariff rates till the final decision of the committee.
Those consumers who have already paid the new bills will get adjustment in their future bills as soon as the decision is announced. The committee also constituted a sub committee, which will comprise Special Assistant to Prime Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar as representative from Punjab, Dr Muhammad Farooq Sattar, MNA/Parliamentary Leader of MQM from Sindh and Senator Ilyas Bilour of the ANP from the NWFP. An MNA from Balochistan will also get representation in the sub committee.
Secretary Finance or his nominee, Secretary Water and Power or his nominee, Chairman, Nepra or his nominee, Managing Director, Pepco, President, Federation of Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Karachi or his nominee, Shafqat Elahi, representative of Aptma, Zubair Motiwala and representatives of business community, Karachi will also be included in the committee. Hina Rabbani Khar will head the subcommittee. The sub committee will review the tariff issue and submit its recommendations to Special Committee as soon as possible for consideration and approval
The committee meeting was held here on Friday with water and power minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in the chair was also attended by Advisor to Prime Minister for Finance, Shaukat Tarin. Additional Secretary, water & power, Chairman Nepra, MD Pepco, MD, KESC and representatives of FPCCI, Aptma and senior officials.
The meeting deliberated in detail on the issue of current state of affairs created due to power bills issued on recently enforced tariff rates. The representatives of Nepra and Pepco briefed the committee about the tariff determination, its component and basis. The committee was informed that bills were sent to the consumers according to the applicable tariff approved and notified by the government.
The rates were kept lower than Nepra determined rates and the GOP was picking up as much as Rs 65 billion as subsidy. The representatives of business community expressed grave concern over the electricity bills and apprised the committee of the problems faced by them due to hike in power tariff.
They informed the committee that if the decision was not reversed or a rational policy in this regard was not adopted, then it was feared that the whole industry would collapse being non-competitive as with the increase in power tariff the production cost would significantly enhance and there will be decrease in exports. They also stressed the need for eliminating load shedding in the shortest possible time.
The minister assured the members that as directed by the President of Pakistan and Prime Minister all possible steps were being taken to maximise power generation by resolving the financial, technical and fuel related issues of Pepco.