Govt to end slab system punishing power consumers crossing 200-unit threshold

ISLAMABAD: Power Minister Awais Leghari told the Senate on Tuesday that the government has decided to scrap the electricity slab system that punishes consumers for crossing the 200-unit threshold even by one unit, and to provide targeted subsidy only to those deserving. Under the current mechanism, consumers using up to 200 units per month fall under the “protected” category and avail a subsidy of around Rs13 per unit. However, any consumer exceeding the limit by even one unit has to pay up to Rs33 per unit and is then not allowed to avail the facility for six months. Speaking in the Upper House, Leghari said work was being expedited to abolish the system under which a consumer crossing 200 units has to pay a much higher cost per unit and remains ineligible for relief for the next six months.

The minister was responding to a calling-attention notice moved by PML-N Senator Abid Sher Ali regarding tariffs charged by distribution companies (Discos)and the financial burden on consumers. Ali highlighted that when monthly consumption increased from 200 to 201 units, the tariff jumped from Rs15 to Rs30 per unit, forcing a consumer to pay bills under the 400-unit slab for just one extra unit. “The cruel slab system effectively punished the poor and drained the common man for months,” he said. Acknowledging it as a genuine problem, Leghari said the ministry was seriously working to abolish the six-month bar. He said the government was considering two options: raising the threshold from 200 to 250 units; or abolishing the six-month penalty by allowing consumers to get the protected category benefit for the month in which they restrict consumption to 200 units. “It will take one and a half months to finalise the plan,” the power minister outlined, adding that the government was…