ISLAMABAD – The government withdrew a previous slab benefit for electricity consumers, which led to an abnormal increase in tariffs.
One of the reasons for the inflated electricity bill received by consumers is the hidden removal of a previous slab benefit by the government for unprotected consumers, an official source told The Nation. Previously, the unprotected consumer category had a previous installment in their billing (i.e. their billing was done in two installments), which has now been removed. Consumers in the unprotected category will now only be charged on a single slab their units fall into. Previously, unprotected consumers using 1 to 100 units were charged at the category rate of Rs 13.48/unit, while for additional units beyond 100 units, they were charged at the next category rate (101 at 200 units) of Rs 18.58/unit. Based on this formula, consumers consuming 101 units paid the electricity cost of Rs 1348 for the initial 100 units while for the next unit they paid the next category tariff which was Rs 18.58 /unity. The total electricity cost of consumers using 101 units was Rs 1366.58. However, under the amended policy, a consumer consuming 101 units is only charged for one slab and it is category two or Rs 18.58/unit and the electricity cost of such consumers is increased at Rs 1876.58. The electricity cost for consumers using 101-200 is Rs 18.58/unit, but after the modification, the consumption of a single unit beyond 200 unit will push this category into the next category consuming 201-300 units which pay Rs 21.47/unit. Consumers consuming 101 to 300 units will be charged Rs 21.47/unit for the entire consumption. The same is true for all categories of dwellings 301-400, 401-500 dwellings, 501 to 600 dwellings, 601 to 700 dwellings and over 700 dwellings.
