Karachi: Irfan Iqbal Sheikh President FPCCI said that Pakistani households and businesses are facing mounting power prices. NEPRA’s latest forecast for power purchase prices for fiscal year 2023-24 reveals substantial financial burden, with consumers to bear 68 percent of costs for fixed capacity payments, primarily benefiting coal plants.

He said that substantial fuel costs particularly petroleum imports potentially pose extreme volatility and strain on foreign exchange reserves with no clear solution or governmental strategy in sight.

FPCCI categorically and vociferously rejects recent hike in electricity prices because it is debilitating both for residential and commercial consumers and, inflation already killing businesses and rendering them unprofitable and bankrupt.

Residential consumers are unable to pay their electricity bills across country and, on an average, residential and commercial consumers pay 15-20 percent extra in form of uniform quarterly adjustment, fuel price adjustments and additional surcharges.

Residential consumers pay an extra 20-25 percent in form of electricity duty, Sales Tax and Income Tax, and residential consumers are subjected to pay Rs 35.57 per kWh for off-peak load and Rs 41.89 per kWh for peak load.

Commercial consumers are also subject to further tax and extra tax in addition to electricity duty, Sales Tax and Income Tax.

He proposed government needs to negotiate with power plants to increase debt payment period to reduce capacity component in power tariff.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 30 2023

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