ISLAMABAD: After a huge increase in domestic prices of petroleum products, now power tariff in Pakistan is expected to be increased significantly to ensure resumption of IMF loan.
Officials said a significant hike in the base price of electricity of up to Rs7.50 per unit is expected to be incorporated on July 1, 2022.
The current average base tariff is Rs16.64 per unit, which would surge to Rs24.14 per unit if the government increased unit price by Rs7.
The IMF has been asking for a raise in the electricity base rate for 2022-23 for a long time, as new power plants and transmission and distribution projects have been added to the national grid.
Some of the new projects, including an 878-km-long 660kV high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line, two nuclear power plants (k-2 and k-3), China Hub power plant, Engro power plant, and RLNG-based power plant at Trimmu, Jhang, Punjab, and others, are now connected to the national grid.
The base tariff is the average cost of energy, which includes the costs of power plants, transmission and distribution, as well as fuel and operations and maintenance.
It also includes power plant capacity payments, which now range between Rs800 and Rs850 billion per year and are paid by customers in the tariff, with capacity payments expected to rise to Rs1.4 trillion per year in the next budgetary year 2022-23. “As a result of new project additions to the system, rebasing of power tariffs is unavoidable, with tariffs rising by up to Rs7.50 per unit.”
