PESHAWAR – In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) stayed the collection of four different surcharges on the electricity bills from consumers, on the petition filed by 528 users.
A bench comprising two members issued the stay order on a writ petition against the collection of different surcharges filed by around 528 users of Pakistan Textile Mills Association, CNG filling stations and other domestic users.
Consisting of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Irshad Qaiser, the PHC bench also issued notices to Nepra, Pesco and Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) to submit their replies before the next hearing. Counsels for the petitioners, Shumail Ahmad Butt and Qazi Ghulam Dastagir, submitted before the bench that industrial units and domestic users were currently paying four types of surcharges in their electricity bills including charges for the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower plant, debt, fix (repair) and equalisation. They submitted that the surcharges were implemented under Section 31 (5) of the Nepra Act.
The council submitted that the section 31 was included in the act through Finance Bill 2008, which was declared as illegal. They pointed out that according to the law, the distribution companies could not impose surcharges on consumers and the matter needs approval from the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
