Protected status and the tariff jump
Pakistan’s government has decided to scrap the electricity pricing mechanism that removes a household’s protected status for six months when its monthly consumption exceeds 200 units, Power Minister Awais Leghari told the Senate on Tuesday, according to Dawn Pakistan. Work on implementing the decision is still under way, and Leghari said the final plan would take about one and a half months.
Under the current system described by Dawn Pakistan, consumers using no more than 200 units receive a subsidy of about Rs13 per unit, while those exceeding the threshold by even one unit can pay as much as Rs33 per unit and lose access to protected rates for six months. Senator Abid Sher Ali separately told the chamber that moving from 200 to 201 units could raise the tariff from Rs15 to Rs30 per unit.
Threshold increase remains an option
Leghari outlined two possible replacements. The government could raise the protected-consumption threshold from 200 to 250 units, or it could allow households to regain protected status in any month when their consumption returns to 200 units or less, ending the continuing six-month penalty. The reference to a 250-unit threshold was also reported by Geo News, but it remains under consideration rather than an adopted policy.
Millions of consumers affected
Leghari said the number of protected consumers had risen from 10 million to between 20 million and 25 million over two years, which he attributed to increased solar use. He said some households consuming 700 to 800 units were limiting their grid purchases to 200 units and receiving relief intended for lower-income users.
The minister said the government was developing an income-based mechanism that would target subsidies at people below the poverty line and lower-middle-income groups. Until that system and the revised threshold rules are finalised, the announced decision does not itself establish when or how the existing six-month restriction will end.