ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has allowed late Friday night a raise in gas prices up to 45 percent in order to meet the revenue shortfall of both gas utilities - SNGPL and SSGC.
In its decisions, the regulator has allowed the SNGPL an increase of 45 percent. The gas company had demanded a 198 percent increase in gas tariff.
The financial impact of previous years’ shortfall of Rs 264.8 billion which accounted for Rs 720.20 per MMBtu was referred to the federal government for an appropriate policy decision and is therefore not made part of the instant determination.
The regulator has also allowed SSGC to increase gas prices by 44 percent in order to meet revenue shortfall for years 2022-23. The gas company had called for an increase of 45 percent in gas price.
Through this determination, the Ogra has requested the federal government for advice on category-wise sale prices.
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Any revision as advised by the federal government shall be accordingly notified by the Ogra. Till such time, the existing category-wise natural gas sale prices shall continue to prevail.
The hike in gas price will help SNGPL to meet the Rs 260.9 billion revenue requirement. The SSGC will recover Rs 285 billion from the gas consumers through an increase in gas price.
The government has already increased the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 30 per litre each. In addition, the national electric power regulatory authority (Nepra) has hiked the base tariff of electricity rates by Rs 7.91 per unit, taking it to Rs 24 per unit against Rs 16 per unit. The gas utilities have been facing high gas theft and losses due to inefficiencies and corrupt practices. The SNGPL has been a better performer whereas the SSGC has been a most inefficient company whose losses were high.
The SNGPL operates in Punjab and KPK. Therefore, the SNGPL has been claiming that it had faced high gas theft in some areas of KPK due to poor law and order situations.
The SSGC claims that losses and gas theft in areas of Balochistan were higher than the accumulated overall losses of the company.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022