DLP Report
PESHAWAR
The Peshawar Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industries has strongly criticized the federal government’s proposed green energy and net metering policy, terming it anti-public and harmful to traders and industrialists.
In a joint statement, Group Leader of the Peshawar Chamber Malik Mehralahi, President Shakeel Ahmed Khan Saraf, Senior Vice President Haji Tala Muhammad, Vice President Malik Zohaib Arif, and spokesperson of the traders’ organization Shahzad Ahmed Siddiqui, along with other leaders, said that while the country needs to shift towards cheap and clean energy, the government’s current policies would further worsen the energy crisis and make business operations financially unbearable.
The traders’ leaders alleged that the policy was a deliberate move to force the public to once again rely on expensive electricity generated by Independent Power Producers (IPPs). They pointed out that the government has already disappointed traders and consumers by imposing an 18 percent sales tax on solar panels and is now planning to reduce the net metering electricity purchase rate from Rs25 per unit to Rs11 per unit.
They also strongly objected to the condition imposed by the Power Division requiring a license for solar power generation exceeding 25 kilowatts, stating that this clearly reflects the government’s preference for costly IPP electricity over affordable and clean energy solutions. The leaders warned that under the current economic and energy crisis, such policies could prove disastrous, damaging businesses and discouraging new investments across the country.
They demanded that the government immediately withdraw the proposed reduction in net metering rates, abolish the 18 percent sales tax on solar panels, and remove the licensing requirement for solar power generation above 25 kilowatts.
The traders’ leadership cautioned that if the government fails to reconsider what they termed an anti-people policy, the business community would be left with no option but to launch a protest movement, the consequences of which would be fully borne by the government.
