Businesses seek industrial tariff below 9 cents

Atif Ikram Sheikh, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), has acknowledged the government's move to lower factory power costs, from 16 to 12 cents a unit, over the past two years, The Express Tribune reported. He argued that cutting the rate below nine cents for every industrial consumer would be the surest way to expand exports and reduce imports.

He cautioned that the present 12-cent rate and targeted schemes amount to temporary fixes. In his view, only an across-the-board reduction covering B3 and B4 consumers would genuinely boost shipments abroad and curb foreign purchases. Sheikh also thanked Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Minister for Power Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari for the relief.

Sheikh welcomed the minister's proposals: a concessional package for incremental usage, plus an elective two-part Time-of-Use tariff, and he praised three consultation sessions held with industry on them. Under the incremental package, consumption above a company's own baseline, meaning its previous usage, would be charged at a concessional rate, while existing load continues to be billed as before. The two-part ToU structure would combine a fixed capacity fee, levied per kW monthly, with variable per-unit rates that change by time of use, covering non-solar, solar and peak periods, with the aim of shifting industrial demand to daytime solar hours and easing the duck curve.