The moment NEPRA let a Rs25.30 per unit tariff slide through a dead‑locked vote, the cost of Pakistan’s electricity crisis was handed to the ordinary consumer. The decision was not the product of transparent cost‑of‑service analysis; it was the outcome of a chairman’s casting vote after a 2‑2 split, with two members openly branding the figure a “random number”.
Why the Rate Is Not Random – It Is Unsubstantiated
NEPRA’s own members testified that the marginal supply cost for incremental industrial consumption sits at Rs31.83 per unit. Their estimate, drawn from the regulator’s institutional calculations, was ignored in favour of a rate that is six rupees lower. The dissenting members also pointed out that the Power Division, ISMO and PPMC failed to provide the required cost data, leaving the chair with no factual basis for a decisive vote. When the data that should underpin a tariff is missing, any number becomes an exercise in political arithmetic rather than economics.
