ECC approves recovery of Rs1.52 per unit surcharge from KE consumers

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved a surcharge of Rs.1.52/unit to be recovered from K-Electric (KE) consumers in 12 months.

The development comes after an ECC meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar today, read a statement by the Finance Division.

As per the statement, the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) submitted a summary regarding Quarterly Tariff Adjustments of KE and informed that as per National Electricity Policy 2021, the government may maintain a uniform consumer-end tariff for KE and state owned distribution companies.

Accordingly, KE applicable uniform variable charge is required to be modified to maintain the uniform tariff across the country.

“The ECC after discussion approved a surcharge of Rs.1.52/unit to be recovered from K-Electric Consumers in 12 months. The ECC further allowed release and utilisation of available budget of Rs76 billion as payment of arrears under different heads,” read the statement.

The committee considered another summary of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) regarding implementation of a revised circular debt management plan and utilisation of Rs20.726 billion to government-owned power plants.

The ECC after discussion authorised the Power Division to utilize a one-time full amount out of the assignment account in relaxation of the limit of using Rs4 billion per month during June 2023 for the next five months and to ensure that there will be no more payment liability to IPPs for the period July 2023 to November 2023, read the statement.

The ECC also considered and approved another summary of Power Division regarding the release of Rs56 billion as approved under the revised Circular Debt Management Plan (CDMP) against Azad Jammu and Kashmir receivables.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce submitted a summary regarding suspension of import conditions contained in Import Policy Order 2022 related to the import of timber/wood and briefed the meeting on the concerns of the wood/timber industry.

“The ECC, after detailed discussion, suspended the relevant import conditions from the date of issuance of IPO 2022 to 31st October, 2023 with direction to the Ministry of National Food Security & Research (MoNFS&R) to review the import policy and come up with suggestions to settle this issue,” the Finance Division said.

The ECC also considered and approved another summary of Ministry of Commerce regarding amendment in the relevant clause in the Import Policy Order 2022 to allow government agencies to import pharmaceutical raw materials.

Moreover, the ECC also approved Rs567.120 million as Technical Supplementary Grants (TSG) in favour of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for its development expenditure.

It approved Rs40 Million as TSG in favour of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for Cadet College Hassanabdal for need-based scholarships to financially challenged students.

Meanwhile, Rs14.022 million was approved as TSG in favour of Federal Tax Ombudsman for ERE expenditure.

The ECC also approved Rs19.236 million as TSG in favour of Ministry of Interior for repair and maintenance of helicopters by Pakistan Rangers.

The committee approved Rs6.279 million as TSG in favour of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports.

An amount of Rs150 million was approved as TSG in favour of the Intelligence Bureau to meet its Employee Related Expenses (ERE) expenditure. Whereas, Rs147.913 million was approved as TSG in favour of Gilgit-Baltistan Council and its departments.

The ECC also approved Rs500 million as TSG in favour of the Ministry of Housing and Works for the execution of development projects.

Lastly, Rs470.26 million was approved as TSG in favour of the Ministry of Housing and Works for Repair & Maintenance of the Supreme Court of Pakistan building, Islamabad and judges residences, rest houses and sub-offices in various cities.