FPCCI says industrial power tariff must fall below 9 cents for all to boost exports

Business Recorder reported that Atif Ikram Sheikh, President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), wants the industrial power tariff cut below 9 cents for every industrial consumer. Sheikh acknowledged that the government has already lowered the industrial rate over two years, from 16 cents to 12 cents. In a statement issued on Saturday, he argued that a uniform reduction covering B3 and B4 consumers would do more to raise exports and cut imports than selective schemes.

Sheikh cautioned that the current 12-cent rate and targeted programmes amount to stopgap measures. He thanked Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, and welcomed two proposals: the Incremental Consumption Package and the optional Two-Part ToU Tariff. The package offers a concessional rate only on power used above each consumer's own baseline, and existing load continues to be charged as usual.

The Two-Part ToU Tariff would add a fixed capacity charge, and Sheikh said industry has objected to those fixed charges before the Power Division for six months. He argued that factories have already adjusted to daytime and solar hours, so the design would neither bring them back to the grid nor ease the duck curve. He also said the IMF should have no difficulty with a lower industrial tariff, since it would raise output and exports.