Consumers using 200 units to pay Rs50, those consuming more will pay up to Rs200 per month

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) aims at earning an estimated Rs3 billion yearly by collecting municipal utility charges and taxes (MUTC), through K-Electric’s (KE) power bills.

As per an agreement signed between the KMC and KE, the power utility would keep seven per cent of the amount as its collection charges, which amounts to Rs300 million. An official of the KMC said the KE would collect the tax from 24 million units across the city.

“The financial situation of the KMC will improve drastically after the tax collection,” the official said, adding that the metropolitan corporation planned to initiate many development projects in the city through the collected money.

The MUCT would be collected based on the volume of power bills. For 200 units, Rs50 would be collected. For more units, Rs150 to Rs200 would be collected. Earlier, the official explained, it had been decided that the industrial units would pay Rs5,000 each, but now the amount had been reduced to Rs200 so that everyone could pay it easily.

Under the Sindh Local Government Act 2021, the provincial government had in April directed the power utility to collect MUCT. The local government secretary, Najam Ahmed Shah, issued a notification to authorise the power utility to collect MUCT with power bills. The

In a press statement, the KE said it was going to only follow the government’s instructions. In May, a resident of Federal B Area, Syed Najeebuddin, filed a petition with the Sindh High Court challenging the collection of MUCT through KE bills. He nominated the federal and provincial governments, KMC and KE as the respondents.

Previously, the KMC MUCT charges were collected on the basis of the covered area of the units. However, now they would be collected on the basis of electricity units consumed. The MUCT was first introduced through a KMC Council resolution in 2008 when Syed Mustafa Kamal was the nazim of Karachi.