Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz have announced that customers using up to 500 units will get a subsidy of Rs14 per unit in August and September.
“The Punjab government will provide a relief of Rs14 per unit in electricity bills up to 500 units for August and September,” said Nawaz in a press conference on Friday.
Sitting beside his daughter, Nawaz said he was “pained” to see people struggling to pay exorbitant electricity bills before announcing the ‘relief plan’ which is expected to cost Rs45 billion.
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He also added that the relief “won’t stop here” and that the Punjab government will soon announce a solar panel scheme to further reduce electricity bills.
Sharif also blamed the federal government for high electricity prices and inflation.
“It was the PTI government that caused inflation and price hike,” he said, and claimed when he was in power in 2017, the average electricity bill received by poor people was Rs1,600.
The same person now received a bill of Rs18,000, he said.