Islamabad: The government has approved an increase of up to 172 percent in gas prices for domestic consumers, which will be implemented from November 1st.
According to a statement issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, the federal government has approved an increase in gas prices. Following this approval, the Petroleum Division also issued a notification regarding the increase in gas prices.
According to the notification, no increase has been made in the prices for protected consumers using 25 to 90 cubic meters of gas per month. However, the fixed charges for protected consumers have been increased from 10 to 400 rupees. The monthly bill for protected consumers will not exceed 900 rupees, and no increase has been made in gas prices for tandoor usage.
For non-protected domestic consumers, gas prices have increased by more than 172 percent. According to the notification, the price for consumers using 25 cubic meters per month has increased from 200 to 300 rupees per MMBTU. For consumers using 60 cubic meters per month, the gas price has increased from 300 to 600 rupees per MMBTU, and for consumers using 100 cubic meters per month, the gas price has increased from 400 to 1000 rupees per MMBTU.
Furthermore, for consumers using 150 cubic meters per month, the gas price has increased from 600 to 1200 rupees per MMBTU, and for consumers using 200 cubic meters per month, the gas price has increased from 800 to 1600 rupees per MMBTU. The gas price for consumers using 300 cubic meters per month has increased from 1100 to 3000 rupees per MMBTU.
For consumers using 400 cubic meters per month, the gas price has increased from 2000 to 3500 rupees per MMBTU, and for usage exceeding 400 cubic meters per month, the price has increased from 3100 to 4000 rupees per MMBTU.
The price for tandoors remains unchanged at 600 rupees per MMBTU, while the price for power plants has been maintained at 1050 rupees per MMBTU. For the cement sector, the gas price has been set at 4400 rupees per MMBTU, for the CNG sector at 3600 rupees per MMBTU, and for the industrial sector at 2100 rupees per MMBTU.
The gas price for non-industrial sectors has been set at 2200 rupees per MMBTU.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the federal cabinet had sent the summary of an increase in gas prices back to ECC today. However, the Economic Coordination Committee approved a reevaluation of gas prices in a meeting held at 4 pm.
According to the announcement by the Ministry of Energy, the country’s gas reserves are declining at an annual rate of 5 to 10 percent, and including commercial gas is putting a financial burden on the national treasury. The weakening of the rupee has increased the cost of gas exploration, production, and distribution.
The announcement stated that not increasing gas prices has led to a circular debt reaching 2.1 trillion rupees. Businesses earning significant profits are using natural gas at a lower cost. All subsidies should be withdrawn due to inclusion in IMF program.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the last increase in gas prices was made two and a half years ago. The previous increase in gas prices had accumulated 461 billion rupees in the national treasury. If the current government did not increase gas prices, the circular debt would have increased by another 40 billion rupees.