Govt increases minimum gas charges up to 38 percent

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Friday notified increase in minimum gas charges for bulk domestic consumers and commercial gas consumers; however, households have been exempted from the increase.

The minimum charges are those that are levied by the gas utility if you consume the gas or not, you will have to pay it. In other words, it is just like meter rent in the electricity bills or line rent of PTCL phone connection.

According to the OGRA notice, for all established commercial units the rate has been increased by 9.1 percent from earlier Rs5,880.1/month to Rs6,415/month. The commercial units include those with local authorities or those dealing in consumer items for direct commercial sale like cafes, bakeries, milk-shops, tea stalls, canteens, barber shops, laundries, hotels, malls, places of entertainment such as cinemas, clubs, theatres, and private offices, corporate firms, and ice factories.

In October 2018, it was also increased from Rs4,625.6/month to Rs5,880.1/month. All consumers engaged in the processing of industrial raw material into value-added finished products irrespective of the volume of gas consumed, but excluding such industries for which a separate rate has been prescribed, the minimum charges have been nominally increase to Rs36,499.7/month against earlier charges of Rs36,301.6/month. The notification further said that for ‘registered’ manufacturers or exporters of these five zero-rated sectors ie textile (including jute), carpets, leather, sports and surgical goods, the minimum charges have been increased by 38.7 percent to Rs28,060.2/month against earlier charges of Rs20,232/month.

For Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector, the minimum charges have been increased to Rs45,803.1/month which was earlier Rs33,045.6/month depicting increase of 38.6 percent. For cement sector, the charges have also been increased by 38.6 percent to Rs45,588.9/month against Rs32,877/month.

For WAPDA’s and K-Electric’s power stations, the minimum charges have been increased to 29,416.8/month which was earlier Rs21,209.88/month. This shows increase of 38.7 percent. The minimum charges for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have been increased to Rs29,416.8/month which was earlier Rs21,209.88/month. Captive Power Plant/Unit means an industrial undertaking/unit carrying out the activity of power production (with or without co-generation) for self-consumption and/or for sale of surplus power to a distribution company or bulk-power consumer, the charges have been increased to Rs36,449.7/month against Rs26,301.6/month with 38.5 percent increase.

As per the notice, the rate for the domestic sector which is supplied gas through bulk meters, including captive power, has been reduced from the earlier Rs4,680/month to Rs3,900/month depicting a decline of 16.66 percent. The domestic sector includes bulk consumers like government and semi government offices, hospitals, clinics, maternity homes, government guest houses, armed forces messes, langars, universities, colleges, schools and private education institutions, orphanages and other charitable institutions along with hostels and residential colonies.