The federal cabinet has made another move to enforce a key condition imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is raising power tariffs.
According to reports, the federal cabinet has authorized an increase in the base rate for electricity, which was done through a circulating summary.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) had forwarded a decision to the federal government to increase the basic power cost by an average of Rs5.72 per unit.
According to government reports, the federal cabinet’s decision would be transmitted to Nepra for a unified tariff.
Following Nepra’s approval, the federal government will release a notification to increase the basic tariff for electricity.
According to Nepra’s decision, a rise in the basic rate of power will impose an additional cost of around Rs600 billion on energy users.
Nepra will raise the basic power rate for fiscal year 2024-25, and the authorized rise will take effect on July 1, 2024, according to sources.
Nepra has authorized an increase in the average basic power pricing for the fiscal year 2024-25 from Rs29.78 to Rs35.50 per unit.
The federal government hiked the basic energy cost by Rs7.50 in the previous fiscal year, which ended on June 30, and by Rs7.91 per unit in fiscal year 2022-23.
The federal government increased the basic energy rate in a single amount for the fiscal year 2023-24, whereas the rise in the fiscal year 2022-23 was done in three parts.
A state minister told Reuters that Pakistan hopes to get a staff-level agreement on an IMF rescue of more than $6 billion this month after meeting all of the lender’s conditions in its annual budget.
