PHC moved against imposition of new surcharges

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa industrial units have challenged in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) the imposition of two additional surcharges i.e. Financing Cost and Tariff Rationalisation in the electricity bills.
The Kohat Textile Mills and 15 other industrial units of the province have filed the writ petition in the high court through Rehmanullah Khan and Qazi Ghulam Dastagir advocates. The industrial units have stated that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on June 10, 2015 through sub-section 5 of section 31 of the Nepra Act had imposed the two new additional surcharges in the electricity bills.
They claimed in the petition that only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the two additional surcharges, including Financing Cost and Tariff Rationalisation, were imposed in the electricity bills. The petitioners said that these surcharges were not imposed in the electricity bills of other provinces.
It was stated in the petition that most of the industrial units in the province had been either badly affected or closed due to war against terrorism and economic crisis. The petition said that the imposition of the new surcharges would further affect the industrial units of province.
It was prayed in the petition that directives would be issued to the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) not to collect the two additional surcharges till the final decision in the case. The petitioners also prayed before the high court to declare the new two surcharges in electricity bills as null and void. The Nepra and Pesco were made parties to the petition.