Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the Power Division to suspend those officials of power distribution companies who sent extra units to the electricity bills of consumers.

“This is cruelty to increase the electricity unit from 197 to 204 for the poor segment is cruelty. Whoever has done this has done injustice with the poor people,” he said while presiding over a meeting on reforms in the power sector and the solarisation process.

The prime minister also ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to launch an investigation into such matters, the PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, federal ministers and relevant senior officials attended the meeting.

The prime minister said that exemplary punishment should be given to those officials who had included extra units in the monthly bills of consumers with their “anti-public attitude, besides unmasking those who had sent extra units to the protected consumers’ category, using less than 200 units per month.”

PM Shehbaz called for accelerating efforts over renewable energy for power generation, saying that Pakistan could no longer afford to generate power on imported fuel.

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He also expressed his resolve not to pass on the buck to the poor segment of society of the wrong policy measures of the past. The consumers would get relief in their monthly bills after utilisation of affordable renewable energy resources for power generation, he added.

The premier called for the immediate closure of dysfunctional government-run power units and those which had been producing expensive electricity. He added that the world was generating power by using renewable energy, adding: “Pakistan, there is immense capacity to produce solar power.”