Finance Minister and Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb presided over a meeting of the Cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) today at the Finance Division.
The Ministry of Energy (Power Division) presented a proposal to the ECC for a winter demand initiative for the industrial, commercial, general services, and domestic (ToU and non-ToU consumers above 200 units) consumers of Discos and K-Electric. This initiative would allow for the best possible use of system generation capacity while also lowering gas demand by shifting favorable demand towards electricity.
According to the proposal, all qualified users would be charged a rate of Rs. 26.07 per unit for the extra consumption that exceeds the benchmark demand in the relevant months.
The program will continue to be in place from December 2024 to February 2024 for a three-month billing cycle. According to a methodology and terms and conditions presented to the ECC, the benchmark consumption will be the greater of the consumption for the relevant month in FY2024 or the historical consumption for the relevant months during the previous three years.
The proposal was examined and accepted by the ECC, which deemed the Power Division’s subsidy-neutral interim relief plan to be pertinent and appropriate given the recent spike in power rates and the decline in demand across a range of consumer categories.
The ECC also took into consideration a proposal from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to transfer the remaining Rs. 3.140 billion from the former Emergency Relief Cell (ERC) into the NDMA Fund so that the Authority could continue its rescue and relief efforts both domestically and abroad in accordance with its statutory mandate.
