Power tariff hike will not hit 75 percent domestic consumers: Omar

Federal Minister of Power Omer Ayub Khan while blaming the previous government's wrong policies for the recent hike in electricity prices said that it will not affect seventy-five percent domestic consumers. Addressing a news conference here on Thursday, Khan said that the hike in power tariff would fetch Rs 80 billion for the power sector, whereas Rs 25 billion would be spent on the system up-gradation.
The minister slammed the previous PML-N government while saying that it did not jack up power tariff for about a year and a half to win over voters. He said they have been bearing the brunt of previous government's flawed policies. He further said that it was earlier proposed to jack up electricity prices by Rs 3.82 per unit but the incumbent government increased it by Rs 1.31 per unit in January 2019, where no increase was made for consumers using up to 300 units which are 75 percent of the total consumers.
He further said that the burden of expensive power projects in shape of capacity charges was put on this government. National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has finalized quarterly adjustment charges of Rs 0.83 per unit for the last two quarters ie from January to June 2019.
He further claimed that the flow of circular debt has reduced from Rs 38 billion per month to Rs 35 billion within a span of three months. He said the government is taking steps to control electricity theft and introduce new renewable energy projects in the country. The minister said there is no load shedding on eighty percent of the feeders. He said the government is taking steps to control electricity theft. "All our steps are as per laws of the land," he added.
He further said that Nepra is an independent power regulator operating without any kind of pressure. The minister said the past government's wrong policies have pushed the country into quagmire while the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan has put the country on right track. The foreign investors have reposed confidence in the current leadership and investment has started pouring in the country, he claimed. He further said that Saudi Arabia is going to invest $4 billion in Balochistan in power projects which would generate 500 MW of electricity.