MUZAFFARABAD (Zulfiqar Ali/Kashmir Investigation Team): Domestic electricity consumers in Azad Kashmir collectively owe Rs17.05bn in electricity bill arrears as of March 31, 2025.
According to the document, as of June 30, 2024, domestic consumers owed Rs 15,897,083,000 rupees in arrears, and in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2024-2025, i.e. by March 31, 2025, the arrears swelled to Rs17,056,924,000, meaning an increase of Rs 1,159,841,000 in arrears.
A significant reason for these arrears is that after electricity prices increased in Pakistan in July and August 2023, the Azad Kashmir government also increased electricity prices.
This increase was made despite the fact that the Government of Pakistan supplies electricity to Azad Kashmir at only 2 rupees 59 paisa per unit.
However, due to public outrage, the Azad Kashmir government reversed its decision to increase electricity prices on September 15 and restored the July 2023 prices.
Although this decision was reversed, the Azad Kashmir government was still buying cheap electricity from Pakistan and supplying it to local people at high prices.
Due to this situation, a boycott campaign against the payment of electricity bills was launched in Azad Kashmir. This campaign was initiated by the People’s Action Committee on September 20, 2023, from Muzaffarabad.
It later spread to various areas of Azad Kashmir. This campaign of not paying electricity bills was largely successful, however, some people continued to pay their bills regularly every month.
Meanwhile, in May 2024, the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee in Azad Kashmir staged a violent protest to increase flour subsidies and reduce electricity prices.
As a result, one police officer and three civilians were killed, while approximately three hundred police personnel and several civilians were injured.
This four-day protest ended when Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif intervened to increase flour subsidies and reduce electricity prices.
Due to the reduction in electricity tariffs, the Government of Pakistan provided a subsidy of 108 billion rupees in the fiscal year 2024-2025, while for the current fiscal year, the Government of Pakistan has allocated 74 billion rupees for subsidies.
New electricity tariffs
The new electricity tariffs were implemented from July 2024. It was also agreed between the Azad Kashmir government and the Awami Action Committee that electricity consumers in Azad Kashmir would pay their arrears in 12 installments.
However, the government is facing difficulties in collecting arrears, which is a major reason why domestic consumers owe 15,897,083,000 rupees in arrears as of June 2024.
On the other hand, the situation of commercial consumers’ arrears is also concerning. According to documents, as of March 2025, they owed Rs4,632,989,000 in arrears, while as of June 2024, they owed Rs4,024,370,000.
This means that in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2024-25, their arrears increased by Rs608,619,000.
Similarly, according to documents, in the industrial sector, as of March 2025, there was Rs1,338,986,000 in electricity bill arrears, which was Rs1,125,040,000 as of June 2024.
This means that in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2024-2025, their arrears also increased by Rs213,946,000.
However, the largest arrears are owed by the Azad Kashmir government. According to the documents, as of March 2025, the Azad Kashmir government owed Rs33,851,392,000 in arrears, while as of June 2024, the government owed Rs28,660,933,000.
This means that in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2024-2025, these arrears rose by Rs5,900,409,000.
Thus, not only does the government owe the most arrears, but the increase in arrears in the first nine months of the fiscal year was also the highest.
Semi-government institutions in Azad Kashmir owed Rs3,372,468,000 in arrears as of March 31, 2025, while as of June 2024, these arrears were Rs3,050,139,000, meaning an increase of Rs322,329,000 in arrears in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2024-2025.
In Azad Kashmir, domestic consumers, commercial consumers, industrial sector consumers, the government, and semi-government institutions collectively owed Rs60,252,759,000 as of March 31, 2025 which would have further increased by June 2025.
In this region, the government not only supplies electricity but also collects electricity bills itself. Therefore, the accumulation of electricity bill arrears directly increases the financial difficulties of the Azad Kashmir government.
In the region, the government itself is not paying electricity bills, which discourages ordinary consumers from paying.
Although a few months ago, the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir stated in one of his speeches that first the Prime Minister, ministers, and high-ranking government officials would pay their electricity bills, and only then bills would be collected from ordinary consumers.
official figures show that government institutions and departments are still not paying their electricity bills.
This situation not only reflects mismanagement and poor governance but has also resulted in the public’s trust in the government being almost completely eroded.
