Fact-check: Govt hasn’t hiked gas prices by 75% yet. Neither will the amount be collected through back-dated bills.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has requested the government to hike natural gas prices by 75%, but the summary has not been approved yet

Social media users allege that natural gas prices in Pakistan have officially jumped by 75%, in a notification which is effective from July, and the government will now be collecting this price hike through back-dated and inflated bills.

The claim is misleading.

Claim

On January 13, Maleeha Hashmey, who has a verified account on Twitter, tweeted that the government has hiked the price of gas by 75% and this amount will be recovered from consumers through back-dated bills.

“What should one say about Ishaq Dar's economic policy,” she wrote, “Gas prices have been increased by 75% and this increase has been implemented from July 2022 onwards.”

The user added that consumers will now receive an additional bill every month, to recover the amount of the previous six months after the price surge.

Her tweet has been viewed over 44,000 times and retweeted 900 times, at the time of writing.

Hashmey repeated the same claim in her tweet on January 19.

Fact

While the state-run Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has requested the government to hike gas prices by 75%, the summary has not been approved yet.

OGRA is responsible for regulating the oil and gas sector in the country.

Imran Ghaznavi, the spokesperson of OGRA, told Geo Fact Check that the Authority sent a recommendation to the government on January 9 for an uptick in natural gas prices.

“OGRA reviews prices [of gas] twice a year, as per the law,” he explained, “After which it determines what the price should be. Recommendations are then sent to the government. It is up to the government now to increase the price or not.”

Ghaznavi added that even if the new price suggestion is given a go-ahead, the amount will not be collected from consumers through back-dated bills.

The spokesperson further stated that it was inaccurate to call this a 75% price bump, as OGRA has already suggested a gas price hike in July, which was not approved by the government back then.

“This is actually an 11% increase from the price we recommended in July,” he told Geo Fact Check, over the phone, “But yes if you compare the new suggested amount with what consumers are paying right now [for gas] then it is a 75% increase.”


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