Pakistani government further jacked up electricity prices to meet demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid broader efforts to secure funding from lender, which requires Islamabad to implement stern economic reforms to fix its Rs350 billion economy.
The electricity prices in the country are set to increase from July 1, with base tariff moving up by Rs 5.72 and fuel charges by Rs 3.41 per unit. The fresh hike in tariff will affect both protected and non-protected consumers.
The government placed consumers into two categories, protected and non-protected for determining electricity bills. Those who cross 200-unit limit for protected consumers results will pay more in monthly expenses.
If a protected consumer crosses the 200-unit threshold in month, they are moved to the non-protected category. This change leads to a steep rise in their monthly bill and they remain in the non-protected category for next six months.
After period of 6 months, consumers can revert to the protected category if their usage stays within the 200-unit limit.