A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) decided to conduct an independent audit of gas bills for the month of December 2018 through external auditors after complaints of excessive billings. A meeting of the CCoE presided over by Finance Minister Asad Umar decided that audit of billing by independent auditor will be in addition to the inquiry regarding excessive billing already conducted by the Petroleum Division.
The meeting decided that the reports of both the inquiry and the independent audit would be submitted to CCoE. The meeting was especially called on the instructions of the Prime Minister to look into the matter of inflated gas billings to consumers. The secretary Petroleum Division gave a detailed presentation to the committee on recent billing exercise of the gas sector and chairman OGRA and managing director Sui Northern Gas pipeline Limited (SNGPL) were also gave their inputs in this regard.
The meeting was informed that consumers are billed according to the slabs in which they fall, in accordance with their consumption. The secretary Petroleum Division said that following the complaints of a large number of consumers, an inquiry has already been launched to look into the matter. The inquiry would look at the issue comprehensively from different angles.
The secretary also briefed the committee that there has been an overall increase of 8% in the consumption pattern of the consumers falling in the lowest consumption slab. He also said that out of the total 6,400,000 gas consumers, only 92,000 who fall in the 6th and 7th(highest consumption) slabs have been affected by high gas bills.
The chairman OGRA pointed out that during December, the domestic consumption of gas doubles which has changed the pricing slabs for many consumers. However, she also suggested that the data for the last two months may be looked into to find any anomaly.
The meeting also discussed the issue of gas theft, action taken against illegal practices and the determination of the Unaccounted for Gas (UFG) loss benchmark and directed the Ministry of Energy to address the issue.
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