The federal government is considering ending the “protected consumers” category for electricity consumers and is preparing to take away the electricity relief given to people who use up to 200 units to replace it with a different mechanism.
A meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was held under the leadership of Chairman Junaid Akbar Khan. In the meeting, Power Division Secretary Dr. Fakhar Alam Irfan said that the government is considering to end the protected consumer category by 2027.
Akbar asked why a six-month slab policy was applied for using more than 200 units of electricity. The PAC Chairman said that if someone uses more than 200 units even once, they get higher bills for six months. He asked for a solution to this problem.
Irfan said that the number of protected consumers has increased from 11 million to 18 million, and about 58 percent of electricity users in the country use up to 200 units.
Under the proposals being discussed, instead of the protected category the government will use Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) data to provide direct subsidy.
Via ARY News.
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