The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to direct National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to fix the electricity tariff at least for a fiscal year. The President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh in a statement on Monday said that the government in collaboration with the private sector would have to evolve a mechanism to fix the electricity prices for a term or a period so that the consumers may know how much they have to pay.
He said the existing draconian Nepra method to raise electricity tariff by issuing a single notification for millions of its consumer is not only unjustified but unethical as well. He said that there was a time when a businessman calculates return on investment keeping in view the two factors, including the cost of electricity and the cost of raw material but now it is very unfortunate that even local investor has no idea of the prices of the electricity because Nepra keeps on adding various components in power tariff and that too with retrospective effect.
The LCCI President said that only last year the Nepra while doing away with subsidy factor introduced two percent Equalisation Charges in electricity bill to wear off the impact of line losses. And the Equalisation Charges were fixed at 2 percent, but now suddenly and without any information to the commercial consumers the rate of Equalisation Charges has been raised to four percent.
He said the Lahore Chamber understands well and a staunch believer that the economic turnaround would remain and dream unless and until all institutions have realisation of causes hitting the very economic fabric of the country. He said that at this point in time when the industry getting little gas, productions have nose-dived and industrial growth is decreasing instead of any increase, and unprecedented upward trend in the prices of electricity is bound to keep the economy hostage for years to come.
Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that it is common phenomenon that in unusual circumstances, routine working methodologies are shelved and special measures are adopted to get rid of economic meltdown, but in Pakistan the situation is the other way round, we are unable to think beyond tomorrow. He also criticised Nepra for seeking another increase in electricity prices, saying that it would prove last nail in the coffin, as both the trade and industry were already suffering due to over 72 percent increase in electricity prices in the last five months. He said that all the power distribution companies should be directed to determine their respective electricity tariff on basis of line losses.