Nepra has approved a hike of Rs2.86 per unit on the power tariff as part of its fuel cost adjustment for March. The changes will jack up electricity charges for K-Electric consumers to Rs4.83 per unit.

Recent changes announced by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority on Wednesday will place a burden of over Rs28.9 billion on the country’s electricity users.

On the recommendation of Pakistan’s Central Power Purchasing Agency for an increase of Rs3.15 per unit for the month of March, Nepra conducted a hearing to consider the proposal and approved a surge of Rs2.86 per unit.

Last week, KE sought an increase of Rs5.27 per unit in its FCA for March to recover Rs8.592 billion from consumers.

According to a petition filed by KE Director Finance Ayaz Jaffar Ahmed, the calculation for the month of March was based on Central Power Purchasing Agency -Guaranteed’s invoice for February 2022 and was subject to adjustments based on Nepra’s decision.

Earlier in a Nepra meeting, the CPPA-G was held responsible for load-shedding in the country as it has failed to make payments to power plants to purchase fuel, due to which they have been shut down. The country is facing up to 6 to 10 hours of load shedding a day due to a shortfall of up to 5000 MW.