Govt's new energy policy could spell economic disaster

The Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industry (HCSTSI) has said that the federal government is pushing the country's economy towards disaster through inconsistent and contradictory energy policies.

Chamber President Muhammad Saleem Memon in a statement on Tuesday drew parallels between the government's allegedly flawed policy of buying expensive electricity from the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to its current policy concerning solar energy.

"The government initially promoted solar energy by introducing on-grid systems, encouraging the public to install solar panels with the assurance that surplus electricity would be purchased," he said. "But this policy is now being altered and instead of purchasing electricity at Rs27 per unit, the government plans to reduce the purchase rate to Rs10 per unit." He lamented that the said change of policy would consequently put adverse effect on government's finances as citizens would move to off-grid systems resulting in further downfall in the revenue collection of the power distribution companies.