The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Friday notified a massive hike of 14 percent in gas tariff on all the consumer categories with the imposition of gas infrastructure development cess on all categories expect domestic, commercial, cement and new fertiliser plants with effect from January 01, 2011.
Ogra notification said the increase in gas sale prices was necessitated owing to the cess imposed by the federal government, increase in cost of gas and decrease in gas sales volume as well as prior year adjustments of the gas companies in respect of line losses and non-operating income. About the adjustment in CNG consumer price, it said that it was necessitated owing to hike in natural gas price and imposition of gas cess by the federal government.
Tariff for CNG in Zone I consisting of KPK, Balochistan and Potohar region at the rate of 1070 BTU has been increased by 28.7 percent from Rs 571.88 per MMBTU to Rs 736.40 per MMBTU, including a cess of Rs 84 per MMBTU. This has increased the consumer price from Rs 66.42 per kg to Rs 74.34 kg. While in Zone II (consisting of Sindh and Punjab) at the rate of 950 MMBTU, the tariff has been increased by 22.26 percent from Rs 571.87 to Rs 699.20 per MMBTU including a cess of Rs 47.40 per MMBTU. The consumer price has been increased from Rs 63.11 to Rs 69.62 per kg.
The tariff for domestic consumers using upto 100 cubic meters will go up from Rs 107.87 per MMBTU to 122.95 per MMBTU. This will increase Rs 448 per month bill by Rs 63 to Rs 511 per month. Tariff for consumers using upto 300 units will jump from Rs 215.74 to Rs 245.89. It will cause an increase of Rs 313 in the monthly bill of Rs 2240 to Rs 2553 per month. Tariff of commercial consumers will go up by 14 percent from Rs 526.59 to Rs 600.19 per month.
Industrial sector's tariff will go up by 16.97 percent from Rs 434.17 to Rs 507.86 MMBTU that will also include Rs 13 MMBTU as cess. Power sector tariff of WAPDA and KESC will jump by 13.58 percent to Rs 507.86 from Rs 447.14 MMBTU, including cess of Rs 27 per MMBTU. Tariff for IPPs will go up by 34.57 percent to Rs 507.86 from Rs 377.39 MMBTU including cess of Rs 70 MMBTU. Cement sector tariff will go up by 14 percent from Rs 609.09 MMBTU to Rs 694.22 MMBTU but no cess has been imposed as at present no gas supplies are given to the sector.
Tariff of feedstock for old fertiliser plants will go up by 207.10 percent from Rs 102.01 to Rs 313.27 MMBTU including a cess of Rs 197 MMBTU. While for new fertiliser the tariff has been increased only by 1.81 percent from Rs 59.59 to Rs 60.67 MMBTU and no cess has been imposed. Gas tariff for direct sales to WAPDA from Kandhkot to Guddu will increase by 17.58 percent from Rs 431.94 to Rs 507.86 per MMBTU including a cess of Rs 27 per MMBTU. Tariff from Sara and Mari to Guddu will increase by 20.89 percent from Rs 420.09 to Rs 507.86 per MMBTU including a cess of Rs 27 per MMBTU.
The hike was immediately rejected by the APCNGA that gave a province wide strike call in Punjab on Sunday to dissuade the government from implementing the decision. It said there was no justification for the increase due to the severe shortage of gas in the country.
Addressing a press conference soon after the OGRA notification, Chairman APCNGA Ghias Paracha said that the government was conspiring to eliminate the CNG sector and paving the way for costly LPG and LNG imports. He said there was no logic to increase CNG prices and impose cess when there was extreme shortage of gas in the country.
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