KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s Businessmen Panel (BMP) has condemned the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to raise power tariff by Rs4.3 per unit in Jan-2022 bills, saying the burden of power theft, mismanagement and inefficiencies cannot be shifted on to the consumers on the plea of fuel adjustment. FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel Chairman, Mian Anjum Nisar in a statement issued here on Saturday said that the high cost of doing business has proved to be dangerous for Pakistan’s industry, discouraging investment both in capacity and capability, calling for lessening the burden of heavy taxes on the power sector. He asked the government to shut down all expensive oil-based power plants to ensure availability of cheaper energy for consumers. He lamented that the previous government did not pay heed to rehabilitation and maintenance of old power plants which caused several system constraints, inflicting heavy losses. FPCCI former president said that the under-utilization of the efficient power plants due to the non-availability of RLNG can be avoided if the Ministry of Energy has timely assessed and managed the availability of RLNG. He asked the Ministry to play an active role in ensuring the supply of RLNG in a timely manner, so that it may not affect the operation of the efficient power plants.
