PESHAWAR: The special assistant to chief minister on energy and power, Tariq Sadozai, said here on Sunday that the federal government was collecting nine different types of taxes through power bills but it was not ready to collect electricity duty for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the same process.

Talking to this scribe, he said that provincial government had formally conveyed to federal government to review its decision to discontinue collection of electricity duty through power bills on behalf of the province.

`Discontinuation of electricity duty through power bills is going to cost the province up to Rs4 billion per annum,` he said.

Mr Sadozai said that currently Centre was collecting at least eight types of taxes including generalsales tax, extra tax, further tax, retailer sales tax,income tax, TV fee, FC surcharge and late payment surcharge through electricity bills.

However, he said that the only tax, it was collecting on behalf of provinces, was electricity duty, which the power division decided to discontinue from July this year. He said the federal government could reduce power bills through controlling theft, improving recovery, running power plants on merit and removing transmission inefficiencies.

Mr Sadozai said that in some instances, government could not get electricity from cheap plants due to transmission constraints and was forced to purchase it from expensive ones. He said that government should pay heed to addressing those issues to reduce power bills instead of violating Constitution and bypassing the mandate of Council of Common Interests (CCI).

Earlier last month, federal government conveyed to provincial government that power division has decided to stop collection of electricity duty through power bills starting from July this year. `We request provincial governments to explore alternative me chanisms for collecting provincial levies and dues, rather than relying on electricity bills as a collectionchannel. Thiswillnot onlymake electricity bills more transparent and easier to comprehend but also ensure that consumers are paying only for the cost of electricity, rather than a mix of other charges,` said a letter, sent by power division to provinces.

Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur earlier this month took up issue with the power division. He conveyed concerns of provincial government to it about the unilateral discontinuation of collection of electricity duty for and on behalf of KP by power division through distribution companies without any prior notice or intimation.

He said in a letter, sent to federal government, that under Article 157(2) (b) of the Constitution, provincial government was entitled to levy tax on consumption of electricity within the province.

`Besides, Section 13(2) of KP Finance Act, 1964, says that every distribution licencee shall collect and pay to provincial government, electricity duty.

Likewise, under Rule 5(1) of West Pakistan Electricity Duty Rules, 1964, a distribution licencee shall include electricity duty payable by a consumer as separate item in bill of charges for the energy supplied andshall recover the same from the consumer along with the charges for supply of energy, said the letter.

It said that legislations including Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997, recognised jurisdiction of provincial government over electricity consumption charges.

The letter said that KP Finance Act, 1964, and Electricity Duty Rules, 1964, had been granted continuation under Article 268 of the Constitution, which provided that all existing laws should, subject to the Constitution, continue in force so far as applicable and necessary adaptation, until altered, repealed or amended by the appropriate legislature.

It said that Article 279 of the Constitution further protected both legislations, through a nonobstante clause, to the effect that all taxes and fees levied under any law in force immediately before the commencing date of the Constitution, should continue to levied until they were changed or abolished by Act of appropriate legislature.

It also pointed out that under Article 154(1) of the Constitution, CCIwas the forum to formulate and regulate policies in relation to the matters ofelectricity. It said that since discontinuation of electricity duty had not been considered or approved by CCI, therefore, it lacked mandatory consultation of the province.

The letter noted that three power distribution companies including Peshawar, Hazara and Tribal Areas, were located in the territorial jurisdiction of KP, therefore, they were bound to comply with provincial laws.

`Therefore, collection and payment of electricity duty is binding upon distribution companies, be it public or private sector, in accordance with legal and constitutional framework, it said.

The letter said that in presence of constitutional, statutory and regulatory protections, power division unilateral administrative decision of stopping collection of duty was violation of constitutional provisions and laws of the province; therefore, a nullity as well as void ab initio.

`This measure will create climate of conflict between federal and provincial governments.

KP government strongly objects to unilateral administrative decision for discontinuation of collection of electricity duty through consumer bill and calls upon the power division to reconsider its decision,` it said.