he electricity bills are higher partly because of the continuous raising of the power tariffs during the last year, particularly during the last three months. The electricity cost is higher because of corruption, power theft and inefficiencies in the system.

There is justified public uproar due to high power bills. The government is bent upon recovering the cost of its inefficiency and lavish free consumption by the bureaucratic and political elite. It is ironic that the inefficiencies increase with every increase in the power tariff.

A close scrutiny of the power bills shows that while raises in that power tariff is an issue, the protests are gaining fuel because of the injustice of inflated billing to people who have no way to approach the redress system.

It is alleged that the units consumed by the influential are charged to the poor with no social safety net. Corrupt meter readers and their bosses are a part of the problem. A daily wage labourer getting a bill for Rs 50,000 lacks access to the review system. He and his family have to suffer the consequences and foot the bill for corruption by the select few. This is a problem the government has to address urgently and effectively.

It has been ‘revealed’ recently that some people in important jobs enjoy unlimited use of free electricity units. For instance, the president of Pakistan can consume any amount of electricity without having personally to pay for it. The bill is paid instead by the state. The State Bank of Pakistan governor enjoys a similar perk. The judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan are entitled to free power up to 2,000 units per month. The judges of high courts are provided 800 free units a month. The employees of WAPDA and its power distribution companies get between 300 and 1,300 units per month.

This is not all. The free power facility is available for life to the president. However, post retirement, he is permitted only 2,000 units per month. In case of his death, his wife gets the facility for life. The Supreme Court judges, after retirement, are provided free 2,000 units per month for life. The high court judges get 800 free units for life. The power sector employees enjoying free power facilities during service get the same facility for life after retirement.

The government, after every power tariff increase, announces that there will be no increase in the tariff of lifeline consumers that consume up to 50 units per month. It is an irony that inflated bills are issued to many of these lifeline consumers. After the recent increases in tariff, these have started consuming more units than their one-year or two-year average. Many middle-income consumers also complain of inflated bills. Sometimes the inflated billing is deliberate. Occasionally, it is due to a misreading by the meter reader. Getting the bill corrected is an ordeal. Getting an approval for payment by instalments is cumbersome and time-consuming.

Most of the low-end consumers and salaried people have single-phase meters. Before the massive tariff increase, the tariff structure of single-phase connections was such that for consumption up to 100 units, the charges were around Rs 11 per unit. Once the consumption crossed 100 units, the tariff went up to around Rs 18 for all 300 units consumed. Then, there was an average tariff of Rs 27 per unit if the consumption crossed 300 units. The staggered went on until it reaches Rs 42 per unit when the consumption exceeds 1,000 units. The enhanced tariff applies to all units consumed.

The ordeal of a middle-income consumer will explain the attitude of power staff in rectifying their mistakes. One has to take a leave of a day or two from the office to get the required correction.

A consumer received a bill for over Rs 66,000 for the month of May for his single phase meter as the LESCO. The meter reader alleged that he had consumed 1,284 units. His average consumption over the past three years had been less than 250 units per month. The photograph of the meter printed on the bill showed that the final consumption on the day the reading was taken was 8,318 units. The bill was for the consumption of 9,318 units. Meaning thereby that he had consumed 1,284 units. The reading was taken on 30.05.2023. When the consumer checked the meter on 03.06, 2023, the meter reading was 8,342 units. He went to the relevant office, where the meter inspector made him sit for one hour as he was busy on the phone.

The latest reading was shown to him. He cross-checked and agreed that it was overbilling. He asked the consumer for his phone number and told him that he would be informed after the correction was made. He refused to issue a formal acknowledgement of the complaint or his phone number so that the consumers might contact him. Finally, on 06.06.2023, the correction was uploaded on the Lesco website. However, a hard copy of the bill still was not delivered. The due date for the bill was set at 08.06.2023. Moreover, the bill was not uploaded to the bank site from where online payments were made. Another point worth mentioning is that the meter photograph at the time of taking the reading showed that the reading was 8,318, but the bill was sent for 8,342 units.

This took the consumption from 284 units to 308 units. This way, the consumer was liable for a higher tariff that applies for consumption of more than 300 units. The difference comes to around Rs 3,000. He paid it because he did not have the courage to go through another hassle.

The ordeal relates to a time when there were relatively few complaints of overbilling. One shudder to imagine the misery people must face now that every other consumer is a complainant.

The writer is a senior Lahore-based economic reporter at The News International