Textile mills reject Rs2 electricity surcharge

LAHORE: Textile mills on Friday rejected the additional surcharge of over Rs2/unit in the electricity tariff as it will overburden the industry.
Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), in a statement, said National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (NEPRA) decision of over Rs2/unit surcharge in a recent public hearing was made after the Lahore High Court declared earlier change in surcharges illegal.
“Such surcharges are irrelevant to the purchase and sales of electricity and therefore they could not be levied on the already burdened textile industry,” Tanveer said.
The surcharge led the industry to believe that some elements do not want the industry to compete with the regional industries.
APTMA chief said the industry is already facing a liquidity crunch as the Central Power Purchase Agency did not release Rs40 billion on account of fuel price adjustment for the months of April and May.
He said the government has not notified the latest industrial tariff determined by NEPRA for 2014-15, causing concern among industrialists.
Tanveer said the textile industry is 100 percent compliant in bill payment with zero line loss on independent/grouped 11 KV feeders.
He lamented that the government is introducing uncalled surcharges, especially when different provincial governments and the K-Electric are in default of more than Rs250 billion to the CPPA and the government has arranged loans to counter this default.
“It is surprising that the fully compliant textile industry is forced to pay for the loan repayment,” he added.
He said the government has imposed equalisation surcharge to subsidise the inefficiencies, corruption and line losses of the DISCOs. Chairman APTMA urged the government to avoid imposition of illegal surcharges and to release the withheld monthly fuel price adjustments immediately.