New Delhi, March 2 (AHN) The Pakistan government’s power sector policy remains chaotic, leading to further disappointment for the country’s fragile industrial sector.

The industrial consumers were told that electricity tariffs would fall by Rs 4.04 per unit for the January billing cycle. Within that very cycle, CPPA-G has sought a positive Fuel Charges Adjustment of Rs 1.78 per unit.

A quarterly adjustment of roughly Re 0.40 per unit is also expected. The effective benefit, therefore, shrinks to around Rs 1.70–1.80 per unit.

More than half of the announced relief is neutralised almost immediately, reflecting the contradiction in Pakistan’s power-sector policy, an article in the Karachi-based Business Recorder states.

This is not a technical dispute over pass-through mechanics. It is a question of credibility. When policy relief evaporates in real time, planning certainty disappears with it.

Exporters price contracts months in advance. They secure orders, allocate working capital, and manage labour based on expected input costs. If those expectations are altered within the same billing period, the entire premise of predictability collapses, the article observes.

FPCCI (Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry) has demanded a review of the fuel and quarterly references embedded in the current tariff framework.

Two tariff resets within a short span, first in July and then in January, have intensified volatility. Industry does not operate on rolling monthly recalculations. It requires a defined stability horizon.

Without it, competitiveness suffers. Pakistan’s energy costs are already high relative to regional peers. Manufacturers competing in global markets cannot absorb unpredictable swings layered on top of structurally elevated tariffs, the article observes.

FPCCI’s call to revisit the January FCA impact and rationalise fuel benchmark assumptions deserves serious consideration.

Aligning projected fuel parameters with prevailing and forward market indicators would reduce abrupt corrections.

Establishing a stability framework for industrial tariffs would restore confidence that announced relief will endure beyond the press release, the article added.