Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that the government has decided to carry out an audit of power plants established by the previous government in order to fix responsibility of "wrongdoings" in them, Radio Pakistan reported.

During a press conference in Islamabad, Chaudhry said that power plants that were set up by the PML-N government are generating electricity at a high cost.

He added that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had already initiated an investigation into Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) power plants established in Punjab.

According to Radio Pakistan, the minister said that the current average price per unit of power was Rs15.53 while consumers were being provided electricity for Rs 11.71 which caused the national exchequer a loss of Rs 2.63 per unit.

He added that a deficit of Rs1.2 billion was being incurred daily in the winter months and Rs1.8 billion in the summer months.

"As a result of these losses, circular debt is ballooning by thirty-four to thirty-six billion rupees every month."

The Radio Pakistan report added that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) recommended an increase in the power tariff.

The minister said the issue would be taken up in the next meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).

During the press conference, the minister also said that a framework to check money laundering had been prepared.

According to Chaudhry, "corrupt elements" would be brought to justice and a new Pakistan would emerge as a result of the vision of the prime minister.

The government has called a meeting of the ECC today to take a decision on the electricity tariff increase it had deferred on Oct 2 owing to by-elections.