Rs268bn power tariff burden on consumers opposed

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry has objected to an extra Rs268 billion load on consumers that former Wapda distribution companies want to recover through prior-year adjustments in power tariffs, according to Dawn. In a detailed submission to Nepra, the business body asked the regulator to turn down claims it said had been rejected earlier or challenged by outside parties.

10 Discos have filed petitions seeking changes to indexation of multiyear tariffs for calendar year 2027, and together they have claimed Rs2.64 trillion in revenue requirements. The FPCCI's Energy Advisory Committee reviewed all of them and found that a large share of the adjustment claims were retrospective, contested or previously disallowed by Nepra.

Iesco's adjustment claims were reported at more than 212 per cent of its proposed annual margin, while Faisalabad Electric's stood at 91 per cent. The FPCCI has demanded itemised objections be included in tariff hearings, written company responses before them, and component-wise substantiation instead of lump-sum claims.