LAHORE: The hapless consumers of natural gas seem to be at the mercy of the gas utility company, which looks more interested in fleecing its customers than providing them with an affordable energy supply.
Various visibly shocked and confused customers of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) termed their respective July bills a nightmare, slamming the gas utility for issuing inflated bills in the lean period of summer months. Accusing the gas officials for indifferent attitude and lack of transparency, they expressed outrage over what they called SNGPL’s flawed billing practices.
Mubashar Baig, a resident of Defence Phase-VII, was perturbed over his Rs19,230 bill for the month of July. He lamented that the gas utility charged him Rs16,888 from nowhere-under the head of ‘adjustment’ and that too without any further elaboration. I called customer service and told no reason for the abnormal charges in the bill, he added.
Arsalan Khokhar’s outrage over a gas bill of Rs58,000 for his in-laws’ residence is a more pronounced example of the appalling billing practices of SNGPL. Who sends a gas bill of nearly Rs60,000 to domestic consumers in summer months? What kind of adjustment/rebate charges are these, amounting to whooping Rs56,000? It’s nothing short of daylight robbery, he regretted. The sheer audacity of SNGPL’s billing department is staggering, and one wonders what kind of inefficiency and corruption is happening behind the scenes, he posed a question.
Sanaullah Khan’s experience is no better. His gas bill for July has been inflated by fixed charges, which infuriated him. A fixed charge of Rs1,550 has been imposed on a bill of Rs3,600. This is not an isolated incident, as Israr Ahmed has also reported a similar experience. His gas bill of Rs177 has been added with a fixed charge of Rs1,333. These fixed charges seem to be arbitrary and bear no relation to the actual gas consumption.
Kamal Azeem, another dissatisfied customer of the gas utility complained about his abnormally high bill. He complained that he was being subjected to pay around Rs16,281 additional amount under the head of adjustment out of the total bill of Rs20,780.
I am shocked to see such an excessive bill as my previous summer month bills were less than Rs2,000.
He said that apathy of SNGPL towards its customers is annoying. There is no transparency in billing practices, and no one seems to be accountable for these outrageous charges, he observed. The customers are left to suffer, forced to pay exorbitant bills that are often riddled with lofty estimates.
The plight of these consumers is a stark reminder of the lack of accountability and transparency in the gas utility sector. SNGPL needs to take immediate action to address these grievances and introduce a more transparent and fair billing system. Until then, the consumers will continue to suffer at the hands of this apathetic organisation. The government needs to step in and regulate the gas utility sector to prevent such exploitation of consumers.
Meanwhile, an official of the gas utility said that Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) domestic consumers have been issued bills for adjustment of imported gas conversion cost with a view to reduce losses of the company.
He added that the gas utility is in a severe financial crunch these days due to multiple reasons and needs to increase its revenue. On the other hand, SNGPL spokesperson said these customers received bills having additional amounts most probably due to change of meter. He however said that he would be able to give a definite response only after getting details from the relevant departments.