KARACHI: Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Zubair Motiwala, who attended yesterday’s NEPRA hearing on subsidy rationalization plan, has outrightly rejected the introduction of new category/ slab of protected consumers based on average consumption of less than 200kWh.
In a statement issued, Chairman BMG stated that the decision to introduce new category/ slab of protected consumers has been taken to reduce the volume of subsidy but this will terribly affect the lives of the poor masses who were hard hit due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic since the start of 2020 and continue to suffer to date as the virus was still haunting the economy, businesses and lives of the poor masses. After implementation of this decision, around 8 million consumers will be out of the subsidy net in the first phase, out of a total of 22 million electricity consumers who were presently getting the subsidy. This sharp reduction is going to plunge the poor segment of society into more severe crises, he opined.
He said that it was appalling to observe that if at any point in time, the consumption exceeds 200 units during previous six months, then the said consumer would not be classified as protected consumers for the billing month even if consumption is less than 200 units. It would be a major strain on the poor consumers who struggle every month to pay the electricity bill as there would be no way left for them to manage their bills.
Chairman BMG stated that it was impractical and unjust to assume a slab based on 6 months average when the consumption widely varies with seasons, climate and occasions. In Karachi, the summer seasons lasts usually to seven months and during the recent years, heat waves have become a common phenomenon whereas the consumption usually rises during festivals and family events. Residents on rent arrangements commonly tend to change their houses which would burden the genuine poor consumers with higher tariffs for six months no matter how much they control their consumption, if their previous dwellers were consuming more than 200kWh, he explained.
