Textile Industry Cries for Power Bill Relief

The Textile Industry is seeking power bill relief as rising electricity costs and tariff distortions continue to burden large-scale exporters. The Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has demanded an urgent revision of the industrial electricity tariff, warning that the current structure penalizes efficiency and discourages investment in high-voltage infrastructure.

In a statement issued this week, PTEA Patron-in-Chief Khurram Mukhtar called on the government to fix the anomalies in the tariff system. He said the latest rates notified by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) unfairly impose higher charges on industrial consumers using 11kV (B3) and 132kV (B4) connections compared to those connected at the lower 400V (B2) level.

Tariff Distortion Hurts Energy Efficiency and Exporters

“It is irrational to penalize industries that invest in their own high-voltage setups and reduce the strain on the national grid,” Mukhtar said. He explained that instead of rewarding such infrastructure investments, the current policy encourages inefficiencies by making it more cost-effective to operate at lower voltages.

The Textile Industry is seeking relief as companies begin to exploit loopholes, artificially splitting their energy load into several low-voltage connections to bypass high tariffs. This workaround leads to grid inefficiencies, increased system losses, and revenue leakage for distribution companies (Discos), Mukhtar warned.

Globally, he said, industrial users connected to high-voltage lines are incentivized through lower tariffs—typically 10–15% cheaper—since they reduce the utility’s transmission burden. “Unfortunately, our tariff model promotes regressive practices by charging more from the most efficient users,” he added.

Pakistan’s textile exports, already under stress due to high production costs and economic challenges, face additional strain from this flawed electricity pricing system. The PTEA has urged the government to adopt international standards and rectify these disparities to support energy efficiency, industrial growth, and export competitiveness.