ISLAMABAD: A shock Rs170 billion in backdated gas bills has been slapped on Pakistan’s industrial (including textiles) and CNG sectors, covering five years of revised tariffs in a single month’s demand, sparking unrest and fears of crippling financial consequences, officials and industry representatives said Monday.
The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited billed companies for 2018 through 2022 at the revised RLNG tariff rates applicable in August 2025, rather than the original rates from those years. Even firms that have long since shut down have received multimillion-rupee bills, adding to the uproar.
“Ogra has been determining monthly provisional prices of RLNG and the same has been actualised. As per gas supply agreement (GSA) signed between SNGPL and its consumer, as well as SNGPL Consumer Service Manual, the differential of provisional RLNG price and actual price shall be recoverable/adjustable by the company in the subsequent billing periods,” Ogra spokesperson Imran Ghaznavi told The News.
He added, “In compliance to the mutually agreed terms and Consumer Service Manual, instead of recovery in single bill (which is the case in current bill) the differential amount can be recovered in future bills, for which period/multiple instalments may be decided by SNGPL, so as to stagger and minimize its impact on the consumers.”
Industry insiders said the utility should have staggered the amount over at least 24 months to avoid overwhelming firms already under strain. Ghaznavi confirmed that no Ogra notification had been issued, and that the billing decision was made solely by SNGPL. He said Ogra has written to the utility seeking clarification.
