LAHORE, Aug 20: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday demanded immediate increase in price of the natural gas being provided to captive power plants in order to create a level playing field for a majority of the industry that has no access to power generation through gas.

In a statement issued here, the LCCI president Farooq Iftikhar said the rate at which the gas was being provided to industrial units having captive power plants was creating disparity in cost of production and might result in closure of a larger chunk of industry in the country.

Mr Iftikhar said the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) tariff for industry for peak hours was Rs18/KWH and for off-peak hours it was Rs14/kwh with an average of Rs16/Kwh, whereas the units having gas generators were producing power at Rs5.5 to Rs6/KWH.

“Since the state is providing gas to a selected few industries, it is actually creating undue advantage for those having access to gas. Given the gas shortage in the country it is not possible to provide it to rest of the industry (as well),” he said.

He said for creating parity in cost of electricity, the LCCI strongly recommended that the gas prices to the captive power plants be increased by at least 150 per cent. “What needs to be realised by the policymakers is that making more gas available to power utilities or their IPPs means higher power generation at cheaper rates,” he added.