THE federal government appears to have gone back on its word to rescind the facility of free electricity for both in-service and retired power sector employees, judges, bureaucrats, public office holders, and others. This is obvious from a written response submitted before the National Assembly by the Power Division in reply to a lawmaker’s query. Justifying free electricity for employees of the government-owned power sector, it said that the provision, like medical and accommodation facilities, was part of the terms and conditions of employment and in accordance with practices in public and corporate sectors.

Each year, around 441.5m units of free electricity is given to 200,000 employees in the public sector, including state-owned corporations. Of these, 308.2m units of free electricity are given to existing employees, while 133.2m units are provided to retired employees. Who bears the cost of this largesse? Other consumers. The cost of free electricity to employees across the country’s energy infrastructure is incorporated into the operations and maintenance charge on top of massive system losses as part of the consumer tariff; a similar facility allowed to the others is paid by the government from taxpayers’ money. The resistance within the government to any proposal to withdraw the freebies — free electricity, transport, housing, and other perks — which are being enjoyed by bureaucrats is understandable. Various past proposals to monetise the perks of bureaucrats have met with severe opposition and have been abandoned in spite of the heavy cost to taxpayers. Effecting change and upending the status quo has always been a difficult task. But it is the job of the political leadership to scrutinise the costs and benefits of these perks, overcome the resistance and get the beneficiaries to pay upfront for these facilities. Sadly, no government has been able to reform the bureaucracy and strip it of costly freebies due to lack of political will.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025