A committee constituted by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf under the Law Minister Farooq H Naek Tuesday declined to approve the exorbitant demand of state-owned gas utilities’ for disallowance on unaccounted for gas (UFG) and non-recovery of bills and non-metered gas.
Sources privy to the development told TheNation on condition of anonymity on Tuesday that the two utilities namely the Sui Southern Gas Company and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited were demanding an aggregate amount of Rs 11 billion. On the other hand, the independent regulator the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) had allowed them Rs 8 billion.
The Petroleum Ministry, being the controlling authority of the two utilities, was insisting for allowing the demanded disallowances on account of the UFG, gas theft, non-metered and metered losses including non-recovery of bills. The source said that the regulator’s viewpoint was clear that it could not determine UfG benchmark above 4.5 per cent.
The OGRA was of the stand that it had approved the law and order and non-recovery of bills allowances for the Sui Southern Company which genuinely deserving for operating in Balochistan and Sindh. The Petroleum Ministry, he said, was of the view that denial to grant the demanded allowances would threaten the financial viability of these utilities.
The committee has declined to approve the collection of whopping Rs 9b from the gas consumers already paying gas bill regularly because additional collection from consumers under head UfG is against the OGRA ordinance. While showing grave concerns over fleecing the innocent consumers,
the committee strongly opposed the summary of Petroleum Ministry seeking approval pertaining collection from consumers by saying that approval can not granted above the set limits on account of unaccounted for gas (UfG). And, both Supreme Court and Lahore High Court have given verdicts against additionally charging the consumers on account of stolen gas.