No more free electricity for power companies' officers in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The caretaker federal government has decided to discontinue the provision of free electricity units to officers of Grade 17 and above in power-related companies, with effect from December 1.

These officers will now only receive monetary compensation through their salaries instead.

The move, titled “Monetisation of Free Electricity Units Admissible to Employees of WAPDA and XWAPDA Companies (DISCOs), power generation companies (GENCOs), National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), and Power Information Technology Company (PITC),” mandates all in-service employees in Grade-17 and above to pay their electricity bills issued by the respective DISCOs. The reference numbers for these bills are already available with the DISCOs.

The notification released by the power division stated that compensation for Grade 17 to Grade 21 officers in WAPDA, DISCOs, NTDC, and PITC indicate that Grade 17 officers, formerly receiving 450 free units monthly, will now receive Rs15,858 per month. Grade 18 officers, instead of the previous 600 free units, will now receive Rs21,996 per month.

Compensation for Grade 19 officers, in place of 880 free units, will be Rs37,594/month. Grade 20 officers will now receive Rs46,992/month instead of the earlier 1,100 free units, while Grade 21 officers will be compensated Rs55,536/month instead of the previous 1,300 free units monthly.

For officers attached to generation companies (GENCOs) and power generation stations, Grade-17 officers will receive Rs24,570 per month instead of 650 free units.

Grade 18 officers will get Rs26,460/month instead of 700 free units, and Grade 19 officers will receive Rs42,720/month instead of the earlier 1,000 free units.

The officers of Grade 20 will be compensated Rs46,992/month instead of the previous 1,100 units, and Grade 21 officers will receive Rs55,536/month instead of the earlier 1,300 free units.

According to the notification, now the officers associated with the power-related companies have to pay their monthly bills.