LAHORE
Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) Vice President Hafiz Talha Saeed has strongly criticised the rising electricity tariffs, billions of rupees paid to independent power producers (IPPs), capacity payments and poor LNG planning, saying the government had subjected people to expensive electricity, inflated bills and prolonged load-shedding.
“People are being forced to choose between paying electricity bills and keeping their household kitchens running, while the rulers appear more concerned with foreign trips and publicity activities than the hardships faced by ordinary citizens,” he said.
Mr Talha said Rs13.397 trillion had been paid to IPPs over the past five years, including Rs7.275 trillion for electricity supplied and around Rs6.4 trillion in capacity payments. He questioned the justification for payments to power plants that were not generating electricity.
He said that despite an installed generation capacity of around 46,000 megawatts, load-shedding continued, reflecting the failure of government policies. Around 5,500MW of power plants remained offline because of the unavailability of LNG, he added, worsening the electricity shortage and resulting in additional outages.
“The government’s failure to procure LNG in time has pushed consumers back into darkness,” he said, calling for an immediate review of the country’s power generation and fuel procurement policies.
He said people, already burdened by high electricity prices, had invested their savings in solar systems to reduce their electricity bills, only to face another setback after the government replaced net metering with net billing and reduced the rates for purchasing surplus electricity.
He said the policy would discourage consumers from investing in renewable energy. While the government continued to spend public resources on foreign visits and official protocol, ordinary people were struggling to pay their electricity bills, he added.
The PMML leader demanded a forensic audit of IPP agreements and capacity payments, an end to payments for non-generating capacity, and immediate steps to resolve the LNG shortage. He also called for relief for solar consumers.
“People cannot be kept trapped indefinitely between inflation, load-shedding and unaffordable electricity bills while the rulers continue to defend their lavish spending,” Mr Talha said. He urged the government to move beyond claims of reform and ensure affordable and uninterrupted electricity for consumers.
