The federal cabinet has approved to jack up electricity prices by Rs7.91 per unit.
Khurram Dastgir, the minister for power, and Musadik Malik, the minister of state for petroleum, spoke at a news conference on Tuesday in Islamabad.
They announced a 3.50 rupee rise per unit starting on the 26th of this month. From the next month, there will be an additional rise of 3.50 rupees per unit, and in the month of October, the rate would increase by 90 paisa per unit.
The poorest consumers won’t be impacted by a rise in the price of electricity, according to Dastgir. He said that a significant percentage of this increase is already being paid for by customers in the form of fuel surcharges. He said that the rate now includes the fuel cost.
Although the next three months would be difficult for consumers, he predicted that when the fuel surcharge is included in the tariff, electricity rates will start to decline in November.
According to Khurram Dastgir, the government has also talked about offering discounted gas and electricity to five significant export sectors.
An announcement to this effect will soon be made. He said we will give the tariff that is close to the regional countries in order to bolster our exports.
Khurram Dastgir said the present government has reduced the circular debt by 214 billion rupees. He said steps are being taken to reduce line losses.