ISLAMABAD: In a radical decision that promises to be popular with the masses struggling under intermittent blackouts, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly has abolished free electricity for all employees of power sector.
The ruling, likely to save the exchequer around PKR 5.25 billion ever year, came from Chairman PAC Noor Alam Khan at the head of a Committee meeting here Thursday.
When he ordered the authorities to stop supplying free electricity to WAPDA employees, Secretary, Ministry of Energy tried to resist by arguing it would make people “jittery”.
Khan countered by asserting the Committee could not be hostage to blackmail, and ordered all power producing companies to deduct from the salary of each staff member the price for the electricity consumed by their households.
Power sector employees including the staff of all DISCOs are officially allowed to consume a total of 391 million units of electricity free of cost annually. The employees of Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA) enjoy free electricity worth PKR 5.25 billion annually.
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