ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Wednesday approved an increase in power tariff by Rs2.87 per unit on account of monthly fuel cost adjustment for the month of March.

The power consumers will have to bear a burden of more than Rs28.90 billion with the increased electricity prices. The NEPRA will issue a detailed decision on the increased electricity prices after reviewing the statistics.

The NEPRA officials, during the hearing of a proposal for an increase in the electricity prices, said that in the month of March, power was generated from local coal, gas and LNG. “An additional burden of Rs350 million had to be borne due to violation of Merit Order,” they added. “A burden of Rs340 million had to be borne due to LNG shortage,” they stated.

“A burden of Rs9 million had to be borne as the plants of better capacity were not operated,” they elaborated. The officials of National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC) said that the furnace oil-based power plants had to be operated due to closure of some power plants.