ISLAMABAD: The federal government has been considering a proposal for increasing Rs500 per mmbtu gas tariff for 60 percent protected gas consumers’ category and more burden would be passed on to non-protected gas consumers.

This was disclosed by Caretaker Energy Minister Muhammad Ali on Monday in a media talk. He said the caretaker government had decided that the impact of the gas increase on the poor would not be more than Rs500 per month.

He said the circular gas debt reached an estimated Rs2,800 billion including Rs800 billion late payment surcharge (LPG). “The gas companies are facing Rs350 billion losses annually and Rs1 billion per day as buying imported LNG at $13 per mmbtu and supplying at subsidise $1.5 per mmbtu,” the minister explained.

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He further said the interim government had been working on three models for 14 state-owned power sector entities on the active lists of Privatisation Commission.

However, the final decision would be taken in the federal cabinet meeting, he added. He said the privatisation of 10 DISCOs was under study in collaboration with IFC (World Bank).

New members in the board of directors of DISCOs would be replaced with technical and experts, he added. The government had three options to reduce the losses of DISCOs: provincialization, long-term contract with management control or privatisation of entities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023