The Punjab government has announced the discontinuation of the Rs14 per unit electricity relief for consumers in Islamabad, effective from September. This relief was part of a broader Rs45 billion subsidy package introduced by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on August 16, aimed at reducing electricity bills for users consuming between 201 and 500 units per month. Despite the initial relief offered for August and September, the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) has confirmed that no such relief will be provided for the current month. The utility has also issued directives to update its billing software to reflect this change.
The subsidy, while intended to alleviate some of the financial burden on consumers, has been met with criticism from political figures across the country. Leaders from Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have criticized the measure as a temporary and insufficient solution to the broader issue of high power tariffs. They argue that the relief does not address the underlying problem of expensive electricity generation. For instance, Adviser on Finance to the Chief Minister of KP, Muzammil Aslam, pointed out that new power projects in KP are set to deliver electricity at significantly lower costs—around Rs8 per unit—compared to Punjab’s reliance on costly imported furnace oil, which drives up the cost to Rs75 per unit. Critics argue that these short-term relief measures fail to provide a sustainable long-term solution and call for more comprehensive reforms to address the root causes of high electricity costs.
