Perhaps rues being a consumer (4)
I believe the answer is:
user
'a consumer' is the definition.
(I know that consumer can be written as user)
'perhaps rues' is the wordplay.
'perhaps' is an anagram indicator.
'rues' is an anagram of 'USER'.
'being' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for user that I've seen before include "Patron" , "Person taking drugs" , "Operator; exploiter" , "One getting benefit from" , "Consumer" .)