- Abid Sher Ali questions higher rates for 201-unit consumers.
- Around 20 million consumers use fewer than 200 units: minister.
- Leghari says govt considers raising threshold to 250 units.
Federal Minister for Power Division Awais Leghari has said the government is working to end the practice of charging electricity consumers higher rates for six months if their monthly consumption exceeds 200 units by even a single unit.
Responding to a calling-attention notice during a Senate session, Leghari said the government was considering increasing the existing threshold from 200 to 250 units.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Abid Sher Ali had drawn the government’s attention to the burden of electricity tariffs imposed by power distribution companies on consumers.
Sher Ali questioned how a consumer using 201 units could be charged at the rate applicable to the 400-unit slab, arguing that the system placed an additional burden on low-income households.
Leghari said the number of electricity consumers using fewer than 200 units had reached around 20 million.
However, he argued that extending discounts to all consumers in this category would not be appropriate, as some households had solar power systems that reduced their reliance on grid electricity. The government would instead focus relief on consumers living below the poverty line, he added.
Separately, addressing the National Energy Summit 2026 in Islamabad, Leghari outlined the government’s broader power sector reforms, saying a competitive electricity market had been introduced and the government would not purchase additional electricity.
He said consumers with a capacity of up to one megawatt would be able to purchase electricity directly. The first request for proposals (RFP) for the competitive power market had also been issued, he added.
Around 400 megawatts of electricity would be transferred to the transmission grid through the competitive market mechanism in the coming months, the minister said.
Leghari added that wheeling charges had been reduced from Rs28 to approximately Rs11-12 per unit.
