ISLAMABAD: The government increased the price of natural gas for domestic consumers and general businesses, including export-oriented sectors, captive power plants, IPPs and CNG, and commercial sectors, by up to 112%.
Tandoors, however, continue to be charged the same amount for gas. The increased prices will be applicable from January 2023.
A significant price hike for petroleum goods was announced on Wednesday.
Following the Petroleum Division’s recommendation, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) issued a notification. The action was taken to comply with the International Monetary Fund’s long-stalled financial rescue (IMF).
hike in gas prices
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet hiked natural gas rates from Jan 1 for six months. The price rise ranged from 16 percent to 112.32 percent. To secure early disbursement of the $1.2 billion tranche, the government is attempting to raise an additional Rs310 billion from the majority of domestic and all other categories of consumers.
The ECC conference introduced the idea of the protected user. This conference was presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The average monthly usage of protected users will be less than 0.9 hm3 for a period of four months, from November to February (90 units). Additionally, four protected consumer slabs and six non-protected consumer slabs were introduced.
For domestic consumers, the price of gas up to 0.1HM cube/month has increased from Rs300 to Rs400, or a 33.3% increase, from the previous rate of Rs300/mmBtu. Similarly, the consumption tariff has increased for consumer categories up to 2HM cube/month by 44.7% to Rs800/mmBtu and up to 3HM cube/month by 49% to Rs1100/mmBtu.
Read more: Dar shocks gas consumers with big hikes
The cost of manufacturing will rise due to the increase in gas prices for industries. This rise will subsequently be passed on to final consumers by the industrial sector. As a result, inflation will rise more in the upcoming months.
