Irrational power tariff

It is getting impossible to make both ends meet. Irrational tax slabs, soaring inflation and skyrocketing electricity bills have completely sunk the purchasing power of the common man, and there is hardly anything left behind in meagre salaried incomes to stay afloat. The issue stands further compounded with a draconian increase of more than 18% in power tariffs, which has broken the back of the economy. Now the middle class and the affluent too are complainants, and a report from Bloomberg has rightly pointed out that electricity bills in Pakistan have exceeded the cost of house rentals. This pathetic arithmetic is leading to revulsion among the masses and any of the promises from the ruling elite to provide with succour is taken with a pinch of salt.

An estimate says that electricity prices in Pakistan have surged by 155% since 2021, whereas the income has taken a beating. Moreover, the tendency of the government to tax each and every product ranging from food supplies to household items and grocery at source has led to plunging of millions below the poverty line. Likewise, it is a new normal for people to expect an electricity bill to the tune of 50% of their monthly income as a shameful Rs60 is charged for a unit of power, merely to appease and oblige a contract with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to whom the government doles out capacity payment for doing nothing, and also for half-done jobs.

Such a decorum of the economic wheel is disgusting and is in contrast to the objectives of furthering exports and growth. Every produce of Pakistan is marred with un-competitiveness on the international index and is badly impacting industry, agriculture and services sector. This is in need of being looked into as the prevailing one-way traffic of elite culture is eating up into the vitals of national cohesion. The ruling coterie's obsession to keep the lenders, especially the IMF, on their side at the altar of commoners and the economy is a suicidal path. The earlier we get out of this nexus, the better.