ISLAMABAD: After months of reluctance, the Power Division finally conceded on Monday that the marginal power price had significantly increased `due to regional war` and the subsidised rates to a select industrial category had burdened other consumer categories.

This came at a public hearing convened by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), whose case officers reported that the average power supply cost now stood at Rs32 per unit, compared with Rs22.98 per unit offered to industrial consumers on December 10 last year under the Incremental Consumption Package.

The Power Division team led by additional secretary Mehfooz Bhatti and Naveed Qaiser, however, warned that its retrospective correction from June 9, as demanded by wider industrial consumers through interventions, would need to be legally examined.

The government team generally appeared on the back foot, as Mr Bhatti said the incremental package was announced after almost a year of hard work on industry demand, but nobody could have antici-pated a `war scene` that changed `economic fundamentals`.

Not only the industrial representatives Rehan Javed, Amir Shaikh, Arif Bilwani and Tanveer Barry but also Nepra members Amina Ahmad, Ghulamullah Shaikh and Maqsood Anwar wondered why the government team had not applied for review of the package on completion of the mandatory six-month period and why it did not work out the latest or average marginal cost.

Rehan Javed protested that he had been highlighting the fault since February through 48 emails and multiple representations at monthly public hearings, but both the power division and Nepra hadturnedadeafear.

He said the package rate was frozen at Rs22.98, while the cost averaged Rs34.26 per unit.

As a result, other consumers paid about Rs11.28 per unit, crosssubsidising fewer industrial consumers who benefited from the belowcost rate.

Mr Rehan and Mr Shaikh made a strong case for suspending the incremental package and its readjustments to consumers with effect from June 9, when the review was legally due.