Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Wednesday, Power Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said that the government had announced an increase of Rs3.50 per unit in the national base electricity tariff. He also said that the government would look into complaints of overbilling due to monthly fuel cost adjustments (FCAs) in the current bills.
At a news conference, the minister said that the federal government would talk to Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi about why time limits on businesses shouldn’t be lifted. He said that energy conservation was a national issue and that, as the largest province, Punjab was expected to lead the way in saving energy.
He hoped that once the Punjab chief minister knew what would happen if more electricity was used, he wouldn’t act in a careless way.
He was talking about what Mr. Elahi had said about letting traders keep their shops open 24/7 if they wanted to.
The minister of power has asked the Punjab government to change its mind about removing the time limit on businesses.
He said that the government was already looking into ways to lessen the effects of FCAs, but he was quick to add that the bills for August and September would stay the same and start going down each month starting in November.
The minister agreed that the power bills in July were ridiculously high because of more use and higher FCAs in May. In response to a question, he said he would look into whether higher units had also been added to the bill for FCAs or because the meter hadn’t been read properly in April or May.
He said that the government had been waiting for end-June recoveries to be finished in July. Now, the performance of power distribution companies (Discos) will be looked at, and decisions about whether or not to keep them will also be based on data.
In response to a different question, Mr. Khan said that the government had stopped charging taxes to traders through their electricity bills, which would help to some extent with higher tariffs and bills.
