SNGPL moves to curb gas consumption

Starts survey of residential consumers, will target industries later.

LAHORE:

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), in an attempt to restrict excessive use of gas in residences as well as improve its revenues, has started collecting data of residential consumers to find out those who are violating the law and running generators on gas for long hours during power load-shedding.

“We are considering a couple of suggestions to overcome this problem, but it has not yet been decided how to penalise the domestic (residential) consumers,” said SNGPL Managing Director Arif Hameed while talking to The Express Tribune.

Hameed said the company was first surveying posh areas of mega cities, believing majority of gas-powered generators would be found in these localities. “The company will assess meter readings of those residential consumers whose bills have increased suddenly,” he pointed out.

SNGPL may replace these meters with commercial meters to increase the company’s revenues and restrict the consumers from using gas in generators. However, the company has not yet formulated a policy in this regard

After completing the domestic survey, the company will target industrial and commercial sectors, which, it is believed, are consuming a high volume of gas in generators rather than boilers.

“The purpose of these surveys is to find out how much load SNGPL is bearing due to gas-consuming generators. Once we collect the data, we will initiate action and, in the meantime, formulate a clear policy,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2012.