Reeling from ‘electric shock’ consumers hit by ‘petrol bomb’

The federal government further squeezed people’s purchasing power by raising petrol and diesel prices on Monday, a day after notifying a hike in electricity tariff for both domestic and commercial consumers.

According to a finance ministry notification, petrol prices rose by Rs9.99 per litre, while high-speed diesel (HSD) increased by Rs6.18 per litre for the next fortnight starting from midnight Monday.

The ministry notification said that fuel charges had been increased because of price variations in the international market worked out by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

“Ogra has worked out consumer prices based on international market price fluctuations,” said the notification. It clarified that there would be no changes in the applicable duties and levies, which will remain at the current level.

Accordingly, the new price of petrol was fixed at Rs275.6 per litre from the previous Rs265.61 and diesel Rs283.63 per litre, up from the previous Rs277.45. Two weeks earlier, the government had increased the fuel prices after a decline in three preceding revisions.

After offering relief to consumers in the last three revisions of oil prices, the federal government increased the prices of petroleum products by up to Rs9.56 per litre on Monday in view of fluctuations in the global fuel prices.

The upward revision of the fuel prices came a day after the government notified a substantial increase in electricity tariffs, affecting millions of consumers across the country, particularly the residential users.