image007Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) has expressed its “deep concern” about the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA)’s decision to hike the electricity tariffs. It has demanded the government to immediately roll back its decision. The Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission (ETFC) two weeks ago had hiked the rate by an average of 19 percent. The FNCCI questioned if it was fair to hike the tariffs at the time load-shedding was rampant and NEA had failed to supply electricity to meet the industrial demands. The government’s move is “very impractical”to make up the NEA’s loss, the FNCCI said in a statement. As per the ETFC decision, the tariff for industries will rise by 98-127% for the period between 11:00pm and 5:00am from mid-January to mid-April. For rest of the year, the average tariff hike will be 20 %. The FNCCI stated that the hike would badly affect the industrial sector, which was hit hard by the last year’s earthquakes and other incidents, and urged the Government of Nepal, Energy Ministry and other authorities to withdraw the decision. The umbrella organisation of Nepali private sector further asked the stakeholders to prepare an “electricity development policy” in consultation with it in the future. In such a scenario, increasing electricity tariff would only increase the industrial cost of production that would erode industrial competitiveness.