Ogra seeks to raise gas prices again to meet IMF condition
In order to meet the IMF’s mid-February deadline, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) made significant concessions to the gas utilities — SNGPL and SSGC — to extract another Rs100 billion from consumers over the next four months through an increase of 9 to 35 per cent in tariffs. The decision comes as part of the government’s commitment to the International Monetary Fund, promising to revise gas tariffs by Feb 15, following an already significant increase observed in November. Interestingly, the regulator cut short its public hearing benchmarks by holding one session in Lahore for the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) and another in Karachi for the Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGC). In the past, it used to hold two or three hearing sessions in Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad for SNGPL for being its service areas and two similar sessions in Karachi and Quetta for SSGC consumers. However, this time, consumers in the north and those in Balochistan could not get representation.