PM Imran Khan postpones decision to hike K-Electric power tariff

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday postponed the decision to increase the price of electricity for consumers of K-Electric.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy chaired by the prime minister. Imran Khan directed to postpone the decision to increase the price of electricity for K-Electric consumers after the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) decided to increase the price of electricity for K-Electric consumers by Rs2.79 per unit.

The meeting also reviewed the agreement between K-Electric and the government. PM Imran Khan directed emergency measures to end loadshedding in Karachi and said that Karachi should be provided electricity from the national grid till the problems of K-Electric are resolved.

The prime minister directed that a comprehensive plan should be drawn up to provide relief to LPG consumers so that as much as possible relief could be given to a large section of the population who are forced to use LPG for their own needs.

The prime minister directed that consultations be held on this important issue to resolve the issue of fixing gas prices on a sustainable basis so that a collective wisdom could be worked out to find a permanent solution to this problem.

Considering the proposal to increase the tariff related to K-Electric, the meeting was informed that in January this year, the tariff was increased across the country as per the recommendations of Nepra, however, no increase was made in the tariff of K-Electric. Due to this, the federal government has to pay an average of three to four billion rupees a month.

It was decided at the meeting that all the facts regarding the K-Electric tariff would be made public and K-Electric tariff would be increased in stages to bring it at par with other parts of the country so that no additional burden is imposed on the people.

Considering the issue of fixing gas prices, the meeting was informed that the production of gas at the national level is insufficient as per the requirements of the country for which gas is being imported. However, there is a clear difference between the price of local gas and the imported one.

The meeting was informed that only 27 percent population in the country is being supplied gas through pipeline at cheaper rates, while the rest of population is using LPG cylinders which costs more than the gas supplied from the pipeline.

Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar met Prime Minister Imran Khan. Najamul Huda Khan, a representative of PakAid, also attended the meeting. The governor and the representative of PakAid presented a cheque of Rs36 million on behalf of PakAid to the Prime Minister and Chief Justice Fund for Diamer Basha and Mohmand dams.

Meanwhile, K-Electric came under radar of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as Chairman Justice (R) Javed Iqbal on Thursday ordered inquiry against it on alleged flouting of agreement, over-billing and loadshedding.

The NAB chairman has given the task to NAB Karachi to conduct inquiry against K-Electric. Taking notice of people’s complaints and media reports against K-Electric, the NAB chairman directed the NAB Karachi to complete the inquiry within three months so that the responsible could be brought to justice as per law.

Justice (R) Javed Iqbal directed the NAB Karachi to conduct inquiry of the complaints of unscheduled longload, over-billing and violation of agreement according to which K-Electric had to make investment for modernising the electricity generation and betterment of transmission system, but it allegedly failed miserably to honour the agreement.

Justice (R) Javed Iqbal directed the NAB Karachi to obtain the copies of the agreement, relevant documents and details of the volume of promised agreement. He said that NAB is a national institution which believes in working as per law.