Sarhad Chamber rejects increase in electricity tariff

PESHAWAR: The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) on Monday rejected the recent increase in electricity tariff up to Rs1.6 per unit under the head of fuel price adjustment.

Talking to the delegations of traders and industrialists here, SCCI President Sherbaz Bilour said the businesses and industrial sector had been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Yet another increase in power tariff is unjust with the business community keeping in view the current stagnation in businesses,” he said. Following the electricity price hike by 29 paisa per unit in October, Sherbaz Bilour said that the NEPRA has again made an increase of Rs1.6 per unit under the head of fuel price adjustment for October and November.

As for November’s fuel price adjustment, he said the increase in electricity price would be by Rs0.77 per unit. He added that the increase in the price of electricity would put an additional burden of Rs8.40 billion on consumers, terming it unfair.

Sherbaz Bilour said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produced low cost electricity despite the fact that it was purchasing electricity at exorbitant rates. He said the recent hike in electricity tariff for October and November on head of fuel price adjustment would affect the national economy, particularly the manufacturing sector, which would subsequently halt the industrial process.

He said the government was increasing prices of electricity, but power was not being supplied smoothly to industries, saying that the issues like, tripping, low voltage and electricity loadshedding were badly affecting industrial productivity.

The SCCI president asked the federal government to immediately withdraw the recent hike in electricity tariff and ensure uninterrupted power supply to industries across the province.