Punjab govt decides to deny relief in electricity bills to power thieves, those charged detection bills

The PML-N government in Punjab has decided to deny Rs14 per unit relief in electricity bills to domestic consumers in some cases, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

Sources told 24News TV channel that the provincial government had decided that there would be no relief for the consumers found involved in electricity theft and who had been charged detection bills.   

Similarly, relief would not be provided to the three-phase and bi-directional green meters’ consumers, and only single-phase meters’ consumers would be entitled to it, they disclosed.  

The Punjab cabinet had on Thursday approved relief for the people of Punjab and Islamabad, consuming 201 to 500 units of electricity, for August and September, at a meeting presided over by the provincial Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Addressing the meeting, Maryam said that Rs46 billion worth of relief had been provided as per the vision of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

She announced that a solar panel programme would soon be initiated in the province and that work had already begun to further reduce electricity bills by next summer.

This follows Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s earlier announcement of Rs50 billion relief package for those consuming up to 200 units of electricity.

It appears that the Punjab government’s decision did not go down well with its allied parties at the Center, the PPP and the MQM-P, which questioned the rationale behind the move, with the latter’s leader Mustafa Kamal demanding Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to announce a matching relief for the entire country.

Reporter: Shahid Sipra