Govt abolishes electricity duty on bills

ISLAMABAD: In a significant development beaming the federal government’s commitment to maximising relief to the power consumers, the Power Division Monday abolished the Electricity Duty (ED) on bills.

This is the second practical measure in the power sector that comes on the heels of withdrawal of Rs35 PTV fee from the power bills on Sunday.

The charging of Rs35 fee had exposed the government to severe public outrage. According to top officials of the Power Division, Electricity Duty is a provincial tax levied under Section 13 of the West Pakistan Finance Act 1964 read with Article 157 (2)(b) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973.

The consumers of all categories are paying the duty, which is one of the main reasons for the inflated bills. The duty was levied on the consumption of electricity supplied by the distribution company.

The domestic consumers pay 1.5 percent ED, commercial consumers 1.5 percent, industrial undertakings 1 percent, tube wells for irrigation and agricultural machinery 1 percent, and the premises where the energy supplied by a licensee and is not metered 1.5 percent and industrial or commercial undertaking having above 500 KVA for self-use pay 3 paisas per unit of energy generated or consumed.

To this effect, Federal Minister for Power Division Awais Leghari has written letters to all the chief ministers informing them about the federal government’s decision to discontinue the collection of El