OGRA notifies 113 pc hike in gas prices

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has hiked the gas prices by 113% and issued a notification following the advice of the Petroleum Division, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The OGRA notified a massive hike in gas prices by up to 113%. According to the notification, gas prices were hiked from 16% to 113% for different sectors including domestic consumers.

Domestic consumers were divided into 12 categories of protected and unprotected consumers.

On February 13, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet approved the summary for hiking the gas price by 112% for domestic consumers.

READ: GOVT HIKES PETROL PRICES BY RS22 PER LITRE

The federal government decided to put an additional financial burden of over Rs310 billion on gas consumers. The gas price will be hiked by 112% for domestic consumers.

It was learnt that there will be 10 slabs of the gas pricing for domestic consumers. Sources told ARY News that Rs500 fixed charges were imposed on unprotected residential consumers.

Moreover, fixed charges of Rs50 were imposed on protected residential consumers.

The gas pricing was also revised for the consumers from commercial, industrial and power sectors. The gas prices were increased up to 29% for commercial consumers and the new price was fixed at Rs1,650 per MMBtu.

READ: ECC OKAYS SURCHARGE ON ELECTRICITY CONSUMERS TO RECOVER RS76B

The new prices for the export sector were increased up to 34% and fixed at Rs1,100 per MMBtu, a 13.9% hike for common industries and fixed at Rs1,200 per MMBtu, 32% hike for the CNG sector and fixed at Rs1,805 per MMBtu and 15% increase for cement companies and fixed at Rs1,500 per MMBtu.

The committee approved gas price revision for domestic, commercial and power sectors for six months from January to June 2023.

Earlier, the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) had tabled a summary on Natural Gas Sale Pricing for FY 2022-23 and presented tariff proposals for all consumer categories in accordance with the Review of Estimated Revenue Requirement (RERR) for the fiscal year 2022-23, according to a press statement issued by the finance ministry.