ISLAMABAD  -  The federal government has asked SNGPL to refund the extra amount to the gas consumers and take action against all those general managers who have overcharged the consumers by applying fraudulent gas pressure factor.

Following the directives of the Prime Minister, the ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) has asked the managing director SNGPL to immediately refund the extra amount charged from the gas consumers, official source told The Nation here Saturday.

The SNGPL has been asked to refund the extra bills to all those gas consumers who have been charged inflated gas bills because of applying extra gas pressure which was over and above of OGRA’s permitted pressure, said the source. One of the main reasons of the high bills are violation of OGRA’s gas pressure rules by SNGPL, said the source. It is pertinent to mention here that OGRA in a letter asked the SNGPL that “application of higher pressure factor by the SNGPL is resulting in higher gas bills,” the source added. The source further said that almost half or 3.2 million of 6.4 million domestic consumers of SNGPL were affected by the fraudulent gas pressure factor.

The Petroleum Division has asked MD SNGPL to take strict action against the GMs of those areas where the consumers had been applied extra gas pressure, the source added.

It is pertinent to mention here that on February 27, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered the refund of excessive money to 30 per cent gas consumers who have been charged with inflated gas bills.

The Prime Minister had been informed around 48,700 consumers of slab 4 and 5 received 200 percent inflated bills mainly because of the application of fraudulent gas pressure factor.

The decision for the refund was made after the Petroleum Division has presented the report of the four members committee to the Prime Minister and it was informed that as per their initial probe around 30 per cent consumers got the inflated bills.

During winter, the gas bills of the domestic consumers have shown abnormal increase which compelled the consumers to protest in front of several SNGPL offices.

The domestic consumers had protested over high gas bills ranging from 12,000 to 35,000. Following the protest the government had constituted a four-member Committee to probe inflated gas bills sent to domestic consumers.

The PM had directed to refund the extra charged amount to the consumers. The PM also directed action against those responsible for sending inflated bills to the consumers. The issue will be further probed and the consumers should be kept informed about the development, the PM directed.

The PM was informed that around 48,700 consumers of slab 4 and 5 received 200 per cent inflated bills mainly because of fraudulent gas pressure factor was applied, the source added. This number included around 35,824 consumers of slab 3 and 12,829 consumers of slab 4 who have been charged more than 200 per cent inflated gas bills.

Around 35,824 consumers who were otherwise in slab of Rs 275 per unit was gone to the next slab of Rs 780 per unit while around 12,829 consumers gone to next slab of Rs 1460 per unit from their early slab of Rs 780 per unit.

If a consumer consumes up to 300 cubec meters gas per month he is in slab 3 and he will be charged at Rs 275 per unit and the monthly bill will be Rs10,940 (including gas price+meter rent+GST) but due to wrong gas pressure the consumers were pushed to the next slab where they had paid Rs 780 per unit.

Similarly, the consumers using Rs 780 per unit were pushed toward the next slab where they were charged Rs 1460 for the entire consumption.