ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to further increase electricity prices by Rs4.37 per unit to recover an additional Rs122 billion from consumers in the next four months, local media reported on Saturday.
The move will take the total additional burden on the consumers to Rs721bn in this fiscal year alone. But despite the planned increase, there will still be a Rs392bn addition in the flow of the circular debt that will be offset with reduction in the debt stock through budget subsidies, official documents suggest.
The officials said that the Rs4.37 per unit increase is aimed at keeping the circular debt at its current level of Rs2.31 trillion amidst no improvement in higher electricity losses and theft that caused additional Rs236 billion losses in the last fiscal year.
The increase has been made on account of the fourth quarter of last fiscal year’s adjustment and will be recovered from the consumers from September-December 2023.
A staggering Rs1.37 trillion more will be added to the circular debt in a ‘business-as-usual’ move – a hole that the government now wants to plug by increasing the electricity price.
The authorities have already enhanced the electricity prices on an average of Rs7 per unit on account of quarterly and annual base tariffs, which will help recover at least Rs600 billion from the consumers.
