Nepra notifies KE base tariff at Rs32.37 per unit

According to Dawn, Nepra has formally fixed K-Electric's average base rate at Rs32.37 per unit for the seven-year multiyear framework running from FY24 to FY30. Informed sources put the cut in subsidy payments to K-Electric at around Rs200 billion across the seven years. The regulator had first set the tariff at Rs39.97 per unit, then lowered it by Rs7.60, or 19 per cent, in October last year after review petitions from the power division, Jamaat-i-Islami, industrialists and KE management.

A three-member Nepra Appellate Tribunal upheld the revised determination on Wednesday and dismissed KE's appeals, though a written order is still awaited. Earlier, the company had obtained a stay from the Sindh High Court, which later referred the case to the tribunal. KE consumers will not be billed the regulator's determined rate and will instead keep paying the uniform tariff applied across other distribution companies, the regulator clarified.

KE has described the revised multiyear tariff as financially unsustainable and a spokesperson said the firm might contest the ruling. It will weigh every available legal remedy once the tribunal's full decision arrives. The government had argued that the original determination handed KE an undue advantage of close to Rs750 billion over the control period.