Seven percent increase in power tariff on the cards

Ministry of Water and Power is planning to increase the power tariff by 7 percent till June 2011 through National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra). Sources said here on Tuesday that the latest increase in electricity tariff that will be more than seven per cent till June is not the last 'attack' on the people as after June the Nepra will come up with another 'tsunami' of new tariffs.
Sources said that the government had to 'invent' new term of 'surcharge' to increase power tariffs because, legally, it could not up the tariff as it had already touched the limits set by the Nepra for the fiscal year 2010-11. The government has no other solution so far, according to the sources. There are two ways to avoid hike in power tariff - building new dams and overcoming line losses. The second seems impossible in the present situation. In some sectors, the line losses are more than 30 per cent and the entire burden is transferred to consumers. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not going to stop pushing the government to further increase the tariff. The IMF is concerned about the budgetary deficit.