The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has demanded the government roll back its decision to hike electricity tariff, terming it an “impractical move”.

The Electricity Tariff Fixation Commission had last week hiked the rate by an average of 19 percent, effective from mid-September.

In a statement, CNI said at a time when remittance growth has been slowing and trade deficit is ballooning, the hike in electricity tariff will put pressure on the economy.

“For a long time, the country has been reeling on load-shedding and its impact has been visible on the industrial output. Hence, in such scenario increasing electricity tariff would increase the industrial cost of production that would erode industrial competitiveness.”