ISLAMABAD: The government intends to end the six month penalty for threshold consumers.
According to the details, Federal Minister for Power Division Sardar Awais Leghari stated in the Senate that the government is actively working on a mechanism to eliminate the six-month additional electricity tariff penalty for threshold consumers who cross the 200-unit monthly consumption mark.
Addressing a calling attention notice regarding the severe financial burden imposed by distribution companies’ slab-based billing structure, Senator Abid Sher Ali highlighted the plight of domestic users.
He pointed out that exceeding consumption by a single unit—from 200 to 201 units—instantly elevates the per-unit tariff from Rs 15 to Rs 30.
This sudden jump forces low-income users to pay bills equivalent to the 400-unit slab and subjects them to six months of inflated billing.
He strongly criticized this structure, stating it amounts to economic extortion of poor citizens.
Responding to the concerns, Minister Awais Leghari assured the House that the government is reforming the system to address the six-month additional electricity tariff penalty for threshold consumers.
He revealed that the Power Division is considering raising the protected consumption limit from 200 units to 250 units to offer broader relief.
However, Leghari clarified that blanket discounts for all consumers using under 200 units are no longer feasible, as this group has expanded to nearly 20 million users.
He noted that many affluent individuals with rooftop solar systems artificially fall into lower consumption slabs, thereby misallocating public subsidies. Moving forward, targeted subsidies will strictly focus on verified citizens living below the poverty line to ensure equitable energy relief.
Note on Protected Electricity Consumers and Packages in Pakistan
In Pakistan’s power sector, protected consumers are residential users who maintain a low monthly electricity consumption profile.
Under the existing National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) tariff structure, a household is categorized as a protected consumer if its monthly electricity consumption remains at or below 200 units for consecutive months.
- Subsidy and Tariff Protection: Protected status grants heavily subsidized electricity tariffs, insulating low-income households from baseline power cost increases.
- The Penalty Mechanism: Under current rules, if a user exceeds the 200-unit threshold by even 1 unit (reaching 201 units) in a single billing cycle, they lose their protected status. Consequently, they are reclassified into higher un-protected slab tariffs (such as Rs 30+ per unit) and must pay penalizing higher rates for a period of six months before regaining protected eligibility.
- Proposed Reforms: To ease public hardship, the Power Division plans to raise the threshold to 250 units and remove the retroactive six-month financial penalty, ensuring that temporary surges in consumption do not devastate low-income families financially.
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Through these structural reforms, the government aims to eliminate the six-month additional electricity tariff penalty for threshold consumers while safeguarding genuine welfare support across Pakistan.
