Skyrocketing electricity bills have blown the minds of consumers. As reported by a private media channel, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the hefty electricity bills being received by consumers across Pakistan on Monday and convened an emergency meeting on the subject.
In response to numerous complaints from residential and commercial power customers, the prime minister asked the authorities to compile a full report outlining all additional charges and levies being imposed.
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Federal Minister of Power Khurram Dastgir and other high-ranking Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz officials attended the meeting (PML-N).
Shahbaz Sharif stated, “the public will be given its due right and no charges will be kept hidden from the people.”
The Sindh High Court (SHC) requested a response from the federal government and K-Electric in a matter involving the collection of general sales tax (GST) on electricity bills on August 18.
Javed Shams, President of Anjuman-e-Tajjran Karachi, petitioned the Supreme Court against collecting GST through electricity bills.
Shams said in his petition that collecting GST from small traders and retailers through electricity bills is unfair. Traders who used a single unit of electricity during the month received a bill containing GST.
Consumers strongly condemned ‘skyrocketing electricity bills’ in the month of August, even during long hours of unscheduled load shedding followed by blackouts by Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) and demanded that the federal government take up this burning issue immediately, or the public would take to the streets in the coming days. Several customers refused to pay their electrical bills by burning them.
In their responses, senior officials of Iesco said that the government imposed all of these levies and that they were utterly helpless to remove them.
However, these officials continued to enjoy free electricity. They are entitled to free electricity units on an annual basis. Ordinary citizens bore the burden of free units and facing skyrocketed bills.