ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister of Energy, Awais Khan Leghari revealed that power sector employees receive Rs 6,000 of free electricity monthly.
Talking to the reporters in Islamabad, the Energy Minister stated that the government cannot currently stop free electricity privileges to power division employees due to ongoing legal cases.
“The government has been exploring legal avenues to end the privilege given to power sector employees,” he said.
Leghari further added that the Power Division has approached the Attorney General to expedite the resolution of these cases so that we can put an end to free electricity.
The federal minister proposed an increase in salaries as a replacement for free electricity and noted that the government is working on a plan to provide surplus electricity at lower rates.
Moreover, the minister highlighted that the solar net metering has resulted in an additional burden of Rs. 103 billion on regular consumers.
The minister said that with an increase in solarization, the financial stress on ordinary consumers is growing as the government is forced to buy expensive electricity through net metering.
He said the government aims to ensure that net metering consumers recover their costs within four years while managing the impact on general consumers.
Earlier, during a recent session of the Senate Standing Committee on Power, it was disclosed that approximately 190,000 employees within the power sector benefit from free electricity, amounting to an annual cost of Rs15 billion.
This significant expense includes Rs1.3 billion in monthly allocations, with each employee receiving an average of Rs78,000 worth of free electricity each year.
