Govt says gas to be provided only for 8 hours in winters

• Gas to be available only in morning, afternoon, evening.
• Minister says govt has ordered LNG to address shortage.
• 2 cargoes arranged for Dec, govt to also order more for Jan. 

ISLAMABAD: Following a massive hike in gas tariff, Caretaker Energy Minister Muhammad Ali gave the masses another blow when he announced that gas will be available only for 8 hours a day during the winter season, reported The News on Friday.

In a press conference alongside interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi, the energy minister said that the government would be unable to provide the gas round-the-clock and clarified that it would only be available in morning, afternoon and evening.

He also shared that two LNG cargoes have been arranged for December 2023 to address the shortage as much as possible and that they also plan to order two LNG cargoes for January 2024.

In Pakistan, 30% of the country uses piped gas, while 70%, mostly in rural areas, relies on burning wood and LPG. Of the piped gas users, more than half have been kept insulated from the tariff increase. He also noted that the rich people in urban areas were getting piped gas at 25% of the cost the poor were paying in rural areas for LPG.

The minister said that there are 10 million domestic gas connections and that the government did not hike the gas tariff for 57%, as they were mostly low-income people and were in protected slabs. However, he added that the fixed price of Rs10 had been increased to Rs400/month. Their monthly bill was earlier Rs200 to 900, which will now be Rs600 to 1,300/month. The government is trying it bring it near the price of LPG, he added.

Ali said that 57% of domestic consumers were consuming 31% of the total gas. After the increase, they would pay 11% of the total cost of gas for the domestic sector. 

"3% and the wealthy were consuming 17% and paying 39%. Similarly, the middle slab consumers, which is 39% of the total domestic consumers, consume 52% of gas and pay 49%." 

He further said the gas tariff for the power sector and tandoors had not been increased. The fertiliser sector had also been insulated from the increase, he said.

In the commercial sector (including hotels and restaurants), the tariff has been equalised at Rs3,600 per mmBtu.

Earlier, there were two types of tariffs for them, one was Rs1,100/mmBtu for local gas consumers (mostly old connections) and Rs3,600/mmBtu for the RLNG-based supplies. The volume of local gas connection was 49% and RLNG was 51%.

Meanwhile, the tariff for the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector has been increased to 80% of the petrol prices. Earlier, the CNG price was almost half of the petrol price. Now it will be 80% of the petrol price.

The minister said the caretaker government had frozen the energy sector circular debt after the increase of power and gas tariffs in accordance with its commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

However, he cautioned that in the next two years, the local pipeline gas would be unavailable to households and they would have to shift to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and would not lift the embargo on new gas connections.

The minister said the government had stopped the addition of energy sector circular debt and it would not increase from now, and that it had happened for the first time in the last 10 to 15 years. 

He added that Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved an increase in gas tariffs, and now, after the federal cabinet’s approval, the new prices would be implemented.