ISLAMABAD: In line with its commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Monday has approved changes to the power act that would eventually load power customers in the form of ‘ new surcharges and adjustments.
The ECC, which met with Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair on Monday, approved amendments to the 1997 Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Act to address problems related to the skyrocketing circular debt.
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The changes to the existing legislation were adopted in accordance with the commitment made by Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr. Reza Baqir during the recent first reviewed of the IMF assessment program.
The federal government has pledged to an updated systemic framework to allow a fresh power tariff increases to cover the cost of energy payments in the current month.
Under the IMF program, Pakistan had set up a committee to eliminate delays in tariff adjustments and reintroduce the powers of the government to impose tariff surcharges by amending the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Act to enable the regulator to determine and automatically notify quarterly tariffs under fresh benchmarks.
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