PM seeks cabinet nod for relief to protected power consumers

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is likely to announce relief for electricity consumers, which would positively impact more than 50 percent of the domestic consumers with a hope that it will allay public anger after an upward revision of the power tariff.

The Prime Minister has issued orders to seek approval of a summary from the cabinet on an emergency basis. The government will provide a subsidy of about Rs50 billion under the decision, which would be for three months, from July to September.

The News has learnt that the consumers falling in the protected slab of up to 200 units will benefit from the relief being worked out. “It can be announced anytime soon,” said an official who was hesitant to share the details. However, he said it would be a kind of summer package meaning thereby this will be an ad-hoc in nature to be applied in the weather setting a new record of heat.

There are around 29 million domestic consumers and 52 percent of them are consuming units ranging from one to two hundred. Among them, four percent are lifeline consumers -- the users having single phase electric connection with a sanctioned load up to one kilowatt. They also fall in the category of protected slab; a definition covers all those consumers utilising the power up to 200 units. Again, the pricing formula varies within this category depending on their consumption like those using up to 100 units are cost less than those who consume up to 200 units.

The household recording consumption up to 300 units is the second biggest category; they form 32 percent of the total consumers. Three percent consumers use units between 300 and 700 and only two percent’s utility crosses 700 units. Domestic consumers constitute 89 percent of the total users. There are nine percent commercial consumers and one percent each are industrial, agricultural and general services.

The government hiked the power tariff from July 1, in a bid to finalise the deal with the International Monetary Fund. In the process, it spared neither the protected nor the unprotected consumers as those falling under the slab of 1-100 units per month will get electricity at 51 percent price above the previous rate as the cost increased from Rs7.74/unit to Rs11.69/unit. For those consuming between 101 and 200 units, 41 percent increase was registered from Rs10.06 to Rs14.16. There is a varying degree of increase from 22-43 percent for the different categories of unprotected consumers.