ISLAMABAD: As countrywide protests against inflated power bills gathered momentum, the PTI has blamed the previous government led by the PML-N for expensive electricity and warned that the power tariff might jump to around Rs85 per unit in the next few months.

In a statement issued on Saturday, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan said the PML-N government was responsible for the “inflated and unbearable” electricity bills, making the country dependent on expensive imported energy, as the capacity payments due to take-and-pay contracts had touched Rs2,000 billion this year.

“PML-N made Pakistan dependent on expensive imported energy and today 70 per cent of the electricity produced in Pakistan is dependent on imported fuels,” he said.

The fuel price adjustments were getting higher due to the rupee’s devaluation, he said, claiming that the price of electricity had jumped by more than four times in just 15 months — from Rs16 per unit during PTI’s tenure to Rs68 per unit.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023