Islamabad:The Electricity Department of Azad Kashmir has issued new electricity bills to domestic and commercial consumers last month, according to the new tariff. Under these tariffs, households consuming up to 100 units will be charged at Rs. 3 per unit, while those consuming between 100 to 300 units will face a rate of Rs. 5 per unit. Consumers using more than 300 units will be charged Rs. 6 per unit, with commercial users billed at Rs. 15 per unit.
Details of the new bills are as follows: for instance, a household consuming 392 units will receive a bill of Rs. 2352 at Rs. 6 per unit. Similarly, a household consuming 51 units will receive a bill of Rs. 153 at Rs. 3 per unit.
It is noteworthy that the Azad Kashmir government had issued the notification for these new tariffs last year following public protests. In May of last year, during a four-day public movement led by the Joint Public Action Committee of Jammu and Kashmir, demands were made for the provision of electricity to the people of Azad Kashmir at the cost of production and further subsidies on wheat.
During this movement, one police officer and three civilians lost their lives, while around 300 people were injured, mostly police personnel. This movement was against the Azad Kashmir government, and the action committee’s stance was that the Azad government was purchasing electricity from Pakistan at Rs. 2.59 per unit and selling it to the public at higher rates, earning billions annually.
Following this, to end the public protest movement, Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif immediately transferred Rs. 2.3 billion to the Azad Kashmir government, after which notifications were issued to lower the prices of wheat and electricity.
Due to the new electricity tariff, the Pakistan government faced immense financial burdens. For the current fiscal year, Pakistan has allocated Rs. 10.8 billion to provide cheap electricity to Azad Kashmir, while last year, the Pakistan government provided around Rs. 8 billion for electricity subsidies.
