Govt notifies FAC relief in power bill

Non-ToU domestic, non-protected consumers would not pay any FCA in August’s billing

ISLAMABAD:

 

In a much-awaited relief, the implementation process for granting an exemption for fuel adjustment charges (FAC) in August’s billing to consumers who use under 300 units of electricity was kicked off on Sunday.

According to a notification of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division), non-ToU domestic, non-protected consumers having 201-300 units of consumption would not pay any FCA in August’s billing.

All the power distribution companies including K-Electric had been directed to implement the decision.

Read: '75% consumers' to get relief in bills

It may be mentioned here that PM Shehbaz had a few days extended the exemption for fuel adjustment charges in August’s billing to consumers who use under 300 units of electricity.

The exemption, originally announced on Aug 23, previously applied only to consumers of 200 units of electricity or less.

“This will cover 75 per cent of the consumers across the country,” the premier said of the revised exemption while addressing a meeting with PML-N lawmakers in Islamabad on Thursday.

“In the first stage, power users consuming 200 units [or below] were given an exemption and the government was bearing a burden of Rs21 billion [for that]. But it only covered 48% or 52% of the users.

The fuel charge adjustment was added to the electricity bills for the month of August, drawing protests from citizens. Under the prime minister's direction, the revised bills were issued besides, and an extension on the due date.
Those consumers who had paid their August bills would get the credit of the FCA amount in their September bills, the notification said.

Separately, the development was also confirmed by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb who said that notification had been issued on the order of PM Shehbaz regarding the "fuel charges adjustment" and its implementation has been started.

In a tweet, the minister said that under the relief plan, announced by the prime minister was applicable to consumers who used less than 300 units of electricity.

The minister said that on the instructions of the prime minister, the payment of new bills has been started and the last date of bill payment has also been extended. For those consumers who have already paid the bills, the required amount will be reduced from the next month's bills, she said.

(With input from APP)