Government drops power, petrol bombs

ISLAMABAD: In a major shock to the people, the Nawaz Sharif government has dropped electricity and petrol bombs on the already burdened masses by increasing the power tariff by 40 to 80 percent for domestic consumers and petroleum products prices, to be effective from today (October 1).

The prices of petrol and high speed diesel now stand at Rs113.25 and Rs116.95 per litre respectively. Ogra has issued a notification to this effect.In complete compliance with the IMF loan terms, the government has increased the power tariff for domestic consumers by withdrawing the subsidy of Rs140 billion.

The mammoth raise in the power tariff will be applied toconsumers of all electricity power distribution companies (Discos).The consumers of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) will not be exempted from the impact of the decision and they will have to bear the brunt from today (Tuesday).

According to the notification issued here on Monday, for domestic consumers using power from 201 to 300 units, Rs5.89 per unit has been increased. Now they will have to pay Rs14 per unit instead of Rs8.11.

In the same way, Rs3.67 per unit has been increased for consumers using 301 to 700 units. They have to pay Rs16 per unit instead of Rs12.33. Those who will consume electricity more than 700 units per month will pay Rs18 per unit.

However, the government has maintained the power tariff at existing level for those consumers who consume only 200 units of electricity per month.

The government did not take pity on the agriculture consumers who sustained massive losses after their standing crops got destroyed in the wake of recent floods and increased the agriculture tubewell tariff by Rs3.58 per unit with an immediate effect. The agriculture consumers would now pay tariff of Rs10.35 per unit from October 1.

The most crucial decision the government has taken is to abolish the slab benefit for those poor consumers who exceed the usage of slab 1-200 and consume 201 units per month. This type of consumers would not be entitled for the first slab benefit, rather they will be exposed to pay cost of Rs14 even from unit 1 up to 201 units.The government has taken this ruthless decision knowing the fact that 65 percent electricity gets consumed by consumers who fall under the slab of 1-300 units. The new tariff of consumers who consume 201-300 is Rs14 per unit. However, consumers of 301-700 units slab and over 700 units slab will enjoy the one pervious slab benefit, meaning that the government has taken care of the interest of affluent consumers.

The lifeline consumers’ tariff has been maintained at Rs2 per unit, who consume just 50 units a month and for consumers who have been sanctioned load of 5kw and above, the off-peak tariff is now at Rs12.50 per unit and peak hours tariff will be at Rs18 per unit.

As per the earlier tariff regime, the tariff for 1-100 units slab consumers was at Rs5.79 per unit and for 101-300 units slab consumers Rs8.11 per unit, and tariff for 301-700 slab units consumers was at Rs12.33 per unit and Rs15.07 for over 700 slab consumers. And under the earlier tariff regime, off peak tariff was at Rs8.22 per unit and peak hours tariff stood at Rs13.99 per unit.

Also, the Ministry of Finance has increased the price of petrol (motor gasoline) to Rs113.25 from Rs109.13 per litre. It also increased the price of high speed diesel by a whopping Rs4.69 per litre — Rs116.95 from Rs112.26 per litre.

The mammoth raise in the price of high speed diesel means that the power tariff will further increase and transportation of all kind of commodities within the country would touch a new high, bringing more financial miseries to the people. The reliance of power tariff is 68 percent on diesel-run thermal power houses and almost 90 percent goods transportation is done through diesel-run transportation.

The price of HOBC (High Octane Blending Component) has also been jacked up by Rs5.77 per litre — to Rs143.90 from Rs138.33 per litre. The price of kerosene oil has gone up by Rs2.14 to Rs108.13 per litre.

No doubt the oil price in international market has increased, but the lethal impact on petroleum price in the country has appeared mainly because of the unbridled increase in the value of dollar, a government official said.However, Ogra had earlier advised the government to maintain the POL prices at the existing level but the Ministry of Finance still increased the prices.