LHC allows petitioners to pay power bills sans FPA

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday allowed dozens of petitioners to pay only outstanding electricity bills for the month of July except the amount of Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA).

The LHC passed the order on the petitions filed by Muhammad Sadiq and others challenging the recovery of the FPA in the electricity bills for the month of July, 2022. The counsel for the petitioners argued that the process, assessment, observations, purported calculations and the claim of the FPA in the electricity bills was not based on legally verifiable technical and financial data with respect to power production and cost calculation.

He asked the court to order the federal government to undertake all necessary steps to bring forward a uniformed regulatory framework in connection with FPA calculations, tariff determination and electricity billing. As an interim and immediate relief, the counsel urged the court to suspend the recovery of the FPA through the electricity bills.

The judge issued notices to the respondents for Sept 14 and allowed the petitioners to pay the amount of their electricity bills within the due date except the amount of FPA for the month of July. The judge directed the registrar office to club all other similar petitions on the next hearing.