Consumers using 300-500 units may get relief

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Water and Power has proposed to a Cabinet meeting that consumers using 300 to 500 units of electricity may be given a relief of Rs 22 billion.

Secretary Water and Power made this proposal during a briefing on over-billing, according to a press release issued after the meeting here on Friday. A special meeting of the Cabinet was held on Friday to take a briefing from the Ministers on the performance of their respective ministries.

The Cabinet was told that two audit firms were hired to probe the issue of over-billing in case of electricity bills. In its initial report the firm had pointed a 31 percent increase in billing – 22 percent due to tariff increase over the last year and 9 percent due to increase in consumption.

The Prime Minister order the formation of a Committee, comprising Minister Water and Power, Minister for Petroleum, Minister for Interior, Secretary Ministry for Water and Power. It will be led by Minister for Finance. The Prime Minister ordered the proposed committee to provide immediate relief to the affected people.

Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the Cabinet in his briefing that Petroleum policy 2012 had been implemented and 44 new exploration agreements had been signed, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

He added that 137 oil wells had been spudded in last one year of the government, while during the last government’s five years only 370 wells were spudded. Moreover, during the last one year, 37 oil and gas discoveries have been made while in the last government’s tenure only 45 such discoveries were made.

During a detailed presentation, the Minister for Petroleum also mentioned that the country was experiencing the highest oil production ever, i.e., 98,980 BBL/day. The Ministry of Petroleum is providing additional gas to the fertilizer sector which had an impact of Rs 30 billion. Another landmark achievement of Ministry of Petroleum is SSGC’s 400 MMCFD LNG terminal which would become functional in February. This terminal would provide LNG to IPPs to generate 2500 MW electricity, the minister added. The Petroleum Minister told the cabinet that Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) had been implemented.

The Cabinet came to know that the Gas Theft (Control and Recovery) Act had been promulgated which would help save gas and generate revenue. The Prime Minister appreciated the 1000 MW gas field on-site power generation policy. The Petroleum Minister apprised the cabinet of the challenges faced by the Ministry over the next three years. These are implementation of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, implementation of the TAPI pipeline, implementation of South-North gas pipeline project, unbundling of SNGPL and SSGC, reduction of un-accounted for gas to 7 percent.