Secretary Power gives details regarding taxes in electricity bills

• Senate Committee discussed high electricity bills.
• Electricity bills include various taxes.
• Electricity demand has dropped by 8.5%.

In a recent meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, presided over by Senator Mohsin Aziz, the Secretary of the Power Division disclosed the array of taxes incorporated in electricity bills.

Federal Energy Minister Owais Laghari elaborated that consumers are taxed Rs 8 per unit of electricity, as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has designated the power sector as a tax collecting entity.

Minister Laghari highlighted the power sector’s dependency on the US dollar, noting that the rupee’s devaluation escalates costs, which has coincided with an 8.5 percent decrease in electricity demand.

He also pointed out the challenges in delivering affordable electricity to load centers, attributing these to the existing issues within the electricity transmission network.

The Secretary further detailed that electricity bills are compounded by several taxes, such as the General Sales Tax (GST), Income Tax, Advance Income Tax, an additional Sales Tax, and an Electricity Duty, in addition to a TV license fee.

Senator Aziz responded to these revelations by expressing concern over the impact of electricity costs on the impoverished, stating that the high prices are burdensome, leaving the poor in a dire situation whether they use electricity or not, and emphasizing that Pakistan has some of the highest electricity rates.

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