ISLAMABAD - The government has withdrawn one previous slab benefit for the electricity consumers, which has resulted in abnormal increase in tariff.
One of the reasons for inflated electricity bill received by the consumers is the hidden withdrawal of one previous slab benefit by the government for the unprotected consumers, official source told The Nation. Previously, category of unprotected consumers were provided the benefit of one previous slab in their billing (i.e. their billing was done in two slabs), which has now been removed. Consumers in the unprotected category will now only be charged on one slab in which their units fall. Earlier the unprotected consumers using 1-100 units were charged the category rate of Rs 13.48/unit, while for the additional units over and above 100 units they were charged the next category (101-200 units) rate of Rs 18.58/unit. On the basis of this formula, the consumers consuming 101 units were paying Rs 1348 electricity cost for the initial 100 units while for next unit, they used to pay the rate of next category which was Rs 18.58/unit. The total electricity cost of the consumers using 101 units was Rs 1366.58. However, under the modified policy, now a consumers consuming 101 units is being charged only one slab and that is category two or Rs 18.58/unit and the electricity cost of these consumers has gone up to Rs 1876.58. The cost of electricity for consumers using 101-200 is Rs 18.58/unit, however after the modification, the consumption of even a single unit over and above the 200 unit will push this category into next category consuming 201-300 units who are paying Rs 21.47/unit. The consumers consuming 101 to 300 units will be charged Rs 21.47/unit for the entire consumption. The same apply to all the categories of 301-400 units, 401-500 units, 501 to 600 units, 601 to 700 units and above 700 units.