KE electricity bill: Consumers to face Rs 11.18 Hike

KE electricity bills are going to witness another increase of Rs 11.18 per unit on account of quarterly adjustments.

The national electric power regulatory authority (Nepra) conducted a public hearing regarding the federal government’s motion for the recommendation of consumer-end tariff for K-Electric Ltd. and the application of a uniform tariff for K-Electric consumers by way of tariff rationalization.

During the hearing, the power division sought an increase in the electricity tariff up to Rs 10.32 per unit for consumers of KE to ensure a uniform tariff.Check KE Duplicate Bill |K-Electric Duplicate Bill 2023

“However, it amounts to Rs 11.18 per unit increase after including all applicable taxes on the proposed increase,” power division officials informed during the hearing.

The federal government sought an accumulative increase in tariff for different quarters to be recovered from consumers of Karachi.

It was informed that as many as 40% of total consumers were protected through low tariff rates, whereas 63% of total residential consumers fell into protected categories of consumers.

Power division officials said that these protected consumers had been paying electricity bills ranging between Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000 per month.

However, the Nepra officials raised doubt over the authenticity of the data.

They said that there seemed to be serious issues in Discos that might be charging bills by imposing higher slabs.

Nepra said that the figure of 60% protected consumers submitted by power division seemed to be wrong.

Nepra officials raised serious questions over the tariff policy approved by the government.

They said that the tariff policy ignored the issues of tax collection and economic growth, as the higher tariff affected these two segments.

They said that these tariffs had also affected industrialization, which would also affect employment.

“If people are not employed, how will they pay their bills?” Nepra officials questioned.

He asked the Power division to convey the regulator’s serious concerns over the tariff policy that was affecting everyone in the country.

Chairman Nepra said that the Power division is a state-owned entity and represents the federal government.

“We are concerned about the policy framework and tariff shocks, and how they were detrimental to the economy,” Chairman Nepra said.

He further grilled the power division officials over holding Nepra responsible for the increase in tariff.

Chairman Nepra said that Nepra decides tariff in response to motions submitted by the government. He said that the federal government hikes tariff.

“Convey your concerns to the federal government and explore options to offset the increase in cost of tariff,” Nepra chairman observed.

Nepra officials added that the economy had slowed down and the government should assess the impact of high electricity rates on the economy and the common man.

Power division officials said that there are certain factors which are not in control of the government.

They said that global factors had impacted the power sector and we have to go through challenging times.

“We are studying multiple options and are sensitive about industry implications,” power division officials said, adding that the government is trying to control the economic crisis.

It had taken several initiatives to control hikes in dollar rate and power theft.

KE CFO said that as many as 1.2 million out of total 2.8 million residential consumers had paid bills below Rs 3,000 per month.

He said that 1.6 million consumers were paying bills over Rs 3,000.

As many as 60% of consumers out of the total 518,000 paid bills below Rs 6,000.

Chairman Nepra directed the power division to conduct an analysis with Nepra technical team to verify the figures.

An intervener representing the steel industry said that the tariff of KE should be implemented along with other Discos and called for adding Rs 1 per unit in tariff regarding the old tariff increase sought by the government.