‘No electricity duty' decision: Minister reaches out to all CMs
In his letters, the federal minister sought support of all the chief ministers in removing complexity arising from multiple charges, taxes, and duties being collected through consumer bills.
He said that high electricity tariffs are already a significant challenge, and the additional burden of various levies further complicates the billing structure, making it difficult for consumers to understand and manage their electricity costs.
Power smart app introduced to get rid of over-billing
The federal minister in his letters highlighted the federal government efforts regarding various measures to reduce power tariffs, including renegotiating Independent Power Producer (IPP) contracts, lowering the Return on Equity (ROE) for government-owned power plants, and implementing other structural reforms.
He said in parallel, we are also committed to simplifying electricity bills so that they primarily reflect the actual cost of power consumption rather than serving as a collection mechanism for various additional charges.
Leghari in his letter wrote that to achieve this objective, we are considering the removal of non-electricity-related charges from consumer bills.
'As part of this initiative, the Power Division has decided to discontinue the collection of Electricity Duty through electricity bills starting from July 2025. We request provincial governments to explore alternative mechanisms for collecting provincial levies and duties, rather than relying on electricity bills as a collection channel.' He expressed the confidence that this will not only make electricity bills more transparent and easier to comprehend but also ensure that consumers are paying only for the cost of electricity, rather than a mix of other charges.
The federal minister also sought cooperation of all the chief ministers in identifying and implementing alternative revenue collection methods instrumental in making this initiative a success.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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