Daily Times

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has reserved its decision on the federal government’s request regarding the Rs1.52 per unit surcharge for consumers of K-Electric. In case of approval, there will be an additional burden of Rs24.5 billion on the power consumers of Karachi.The authority held a hearing under the chairmanship of Waseem Mukhtar over the request for a Rs1.52 per unit surcharge for K-Electric consumers. Officials told the meeting that there will be three-year-old recoveries through the proposed surcharge. NEPRA expressed reservations over the proposal. The officials of the Ministry of Energy said quarterly adjustments were notified in May 2019, but because of coronavirus, the government had halted the additional burden. At that time, consumers would have had to bear a burden of up to Rs17 per unit, but the government decided to provide a subsidy. The federal government will still bear a burden of Rs250 billion in the form of subsidy. The NEPRA expressed reservations about including lifeline users in the plea, and directed a review and reserved its decision while completing the hearings. The NEPRA has also taken notice of the recovery of heavy taxes, including income tax, in electricity bills. It was decided to hold a review session regarding the collection of taxes from electricity consumers. The opinion of all stakeholders will be sought on the collection of taxes in electricity bills. The authority will issue notices to all stakeholders before the review session.The power division officials told the meeting that they do not collect taxes themselves. Taxes are collected by the Ministry of Finance and FBR, they said, adding it is better to consult the two departments on the issue. They further claimed that taxes are being collected from power consumers as per rules. NEPRA sought details of the amount of taxes being collected from electricity consumers.