About 4,000 people in Perlis are enjoying free electricity supply under the RM20 monthly scheme implemented by the federal government.

Perlis Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) general manager Abdul Aziz Yaacob said they form about 18 percent of the total 77,200 consumers in the state.

"However, the average bill payment period of 42 days is frustrating and not in line with TNB's efforts to reduce outages to 37.41 minutes per consumer.

"For this year, Perlis TNB plans to reduce outages to below 34 minutes," he said at 'Bersama Komuniti TNB 2014' programme in Beseri, Monday.

The programme was launched by Sabry Ahmad, the State Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Committee chairman.

Abd Aziz hopes consumers will settle their electricity bills within 30 days of billing date to avoid disconnection.