PPP calls new alternative energy policy 'betrayal of clean energy future'

ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the new alternative energy policy, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Saturday said the federal government’s decision is destroying the future of renewable energy and warned that it will strongly resist the “anti-people policy” at judicial, political and public levels.

The PPP termed the federal government’s move a direct attack on Pakistan’s energy and economic independence. “We demand that the federal government immediately withdraw this cruel policy and take legal action against those responsible,” demanded PPP Secretary Information Shazia Marri while rejecting the alternative energy policy in a statement.

Shazia Marri said solar energy consumers are being forced to sell electricity for only Rs10 per unit instead of Rs27 per unit, saying that this action is “a direct attack on alternative energy consumers and a betrayal of Pakistan’s renewable energy future”.

The PPP leader said consumers are forced to buy electricity from the national grid at the rates of Rs65 or more per unit. “Instead of encouraging consumers to switch to green energy, the federal government is waging an open war on them,” she said. She said this 550 percent difference in prices is cruel and economic exploitation of the common people.

Shazia Marri said this is not just an energy policy, but an economic war against the people on which we will not remain silent. “The government must stop selling our future to commercial interests,” she said.

Shazia Marri maintained the federal government continues to “patronise incompetent individuals in the power sector”. She said the federal government claims that net metering burdens the general consumer with 90 paisa per unit. The reality is that Rs18 per unit is being wasted in “idle capacity payments” and Rs600 billion annually in electricity theft and non-payment of bills, she said.

Instead of solving these serious problems, Shazia Marri said the federal government is punishing those who are making the country self-sufficient in energy.

The PPP Secretary Information said this policy will destroy Pakistan’s solar energy industry, making solar energy unviable for domestic and commercial consumers. “This process will deter local and foreign investment in renewable energy, and increase dependence on an outdated and failing grid,” she said.

Shazia Marri said the government action will force the public to buy electricity at unaffordable rates while green energy opportunities will disappear.