Nepra Officials Receive Unauthorized Pay Hikes, Raising Concerns Over Transparency

Senior officials at the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) have dramatically increased their salaries and allowances without obtaining the required approval from the federal cabinet, according to sources cited by BR.

This unauthorized pay hike comes at a time when the power sector is grappling with significant financial losses due to inefficiencies in its distribution and management.

Typically, under regulations, the chairperson and members of Nepra are placed in the Management Position (MP) I scale, with basic salaries ranging from Rs629,000 to Rs772,780 per month. Including allowances for house rent and utilities, their gross salaries were previously between Rs800,000 and Rs1 million.

However, the recent changes have resulted in a sharp increase in compensation, with the chairperson now earning Rs3.25 million and members up to Rs2.95 million. The revised pay package includes a basic salary of Rs700,000 to Rs773,000, along with a 'regulatory allowance' of Rs631,000 to Rs700,000, modeled after the pay structure for judicial officers.

In addition to these pay hikes, Nepra officials have secured various ad hoc benefits for past and upcoming years, such as Rs587,000 to Rs650,000 for 2024, Rs544,000 to Rs600,000 for 2023, Rs105,150 to Rs116,000 for 2022, and Rs70,000 to Rs77,300 for 2021. They also continue to receive house rent allowances of Rs176,000 to Rs206,000, car monetization worth Rs96,000, and utility allowances ranging from Rs32,000 to Rs35,000.

The total compensation now exceeds the salaries of superior court judges, raising concerns about transparency and accountability in financial matters.

Most of Nepra’s leadership are retired bureaucrats, whose previous government salaries ranged from Rs600,000 to Rs700,000, making the new salaries more than four times higher than their earlier pay. This has raised questions about discrepancies between regulatory bodies, as other officials continue to receive salaries under the MP scale set by the Ministry of Finance.

The substantial pay raise has sparked concerns over unequal compensation practices across regulatory authorities. Notably, only the chairperson of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) receives a specialized pay scale, capped between Rs1.5 million and Rs2 million.

Despite multiple inquiries, Nepra has not provided any clarification regarding the rationale behind these salary increases or whether they sought official approval.