Govt continues to supply gas to off-grid industries

ISLAMABAD: Government will continue to supply gas to industries which aren’t currently connected to the power grid, a Prime Minister’s aide said on Friday.

“Industrial units, which are not currently connected to the power grid or have electrical connection that is not sufficient for their needs, would not be disconnected immediately,” Special Assistant the PrimeMinister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar saidduring a meeting.

The industrialists were requested to shift from gas-based captive power generation to the national power grid by December of this year.

Babar said the decision to disconnect gas supply was based on the fact that consumption of scarce natural gas in inefficient captive power plants (CPPs) was a big national loss.

“The surplus power generation capacity could be absorbed in these industrial units at competitive rates and reliable supplies. The issue of gas supplies to CPPs had been under discussion for last ten years. Allocation management policy 2005 clearly stated that the gas supplies to CPPs would be made on as/when available after meeting the requirement of other consumers,” he said. “Even new policy also exempted captive units with co-generation since they have much higher combined efficiency.

The government’s decision to disconnect gas supply was widely slammed by the industrialists. The government was warned to be taken to the court and advised to show sanity and refrain from an action that could disrupt the economic recovery process. Even the industrial units that are connected to the grid prefer own power generation due to low cost.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Power Tabish Gohar, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, business community’s representatives and others attended the meeting. Gohar informed the forum that Pakistan has overcapacity in terms of power generation and circular debt is a basic economy issue, connecting the industries with national grid would help reduce the burden of take-or-pay charges on the government.

The incumbent government announced the electricity tariff support package whereby all industries would be provided discounted rate on power tariffs on incremental usage of electricity for the next three years,” he said. “The present government was bringing improvement in the power sector through bold policy decisions.”

The PM aide said power distribution companies will expeditiously process new connections and load enhancement applications for industries and ensure quality of supply to industry.

Governor Sindh said industrial development is one of the top priorities of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said the federal government would extend all possible assistance to them for industrial growth and of country’s exports. “No industry would be disconnected from gas supply unless they have an electricity connection to meet their requirements.”