HYDERABAD, Jan 22: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday stayed recovery of fuel price adjustment (FPA) while hearing a constitutional petition filed by six factory owners.

The court issued notices to the ministry of water and power, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and others.

The case was adjourned to a date to be fixed by the court office.

The petition was filed by Tughlaq Paper Industries, Zeal Pak Cement Factory and four other industrial units through Advocate Shaukat Ali Pathan.

They submitted that once bills had been paid by a consumer the transaction between the consumer and the (power) utility stood closed.

The petitioners argued that the electricity charges were part of the cost of production and were added to the price of the product and, therefore, could not be recovered after the product had been disposed of.

They submitted that the respondents could not recover any extra charges when they felt that the electricity they had already provided was dearer than when it was charged, arguing that “business deals are decided in advance”.

According to the petitioners, consumers have to shoulder the burden of such an increase with retrospective effect only to incur losses.

They stated that when similar transactions were closed between the petitioners and their customers, they received the bills that pertained to electricity consumption during the period June-July 2012.

The bills were delivered during the current month with retrospective effect.

The charges pertaining to the fuel price adjustment (FPA) were supposed to be recovered from consumers about five-six months after the electricity was consumed, they added.

They said they were told that the respondents included the said amounts in their current bills although the billing authorities were restrained from doing so by the ministry of water and power, through a letter dated March 27,2012. The letter, they said, held in abeyance the FPA determination pertaining to October 2011-January 2012 till a suitable mechanism was evolved for the recovery of the amounts.

The petitioners said that the respondents did not comply with the order and charged FPA in the bills sent to the petitioners this month.

After the 18th constitutional amendment, electricity has become purely a provincial subject for all practical purposes and no determination of electricity tariff could be done by a centralised agency, according to the petitioners.

The petitioners submitted that such a recovery was in violation of the petitioners’ fundamental rights as enshrined in Articles 23 and 24 of the constitution.

They also referred to the high court orders issued last year in some identical petitions, suspending recovery of FPA.

They prayed to the court to restrain the respondents from recovering FPA till the disposal of the present petition.