On Monday, the temporary government in Islamabad made a big decision that’s going to hit people’s wallets. They’ve approved a huge increase in the gas prices, and it will start on November 1 (that’s this Wednesday).

For regular folks using gas at home, the price is going up a lot – by 173%. If you run a business, it’s going up by 136.4%, for exports, it’s 91%, and for factories that don’t export, it’s 83%.

They’ve also changed the monthly fees for different groups of consumers. For people who are protected, the gas prices went up from Rs10 to Rs400, for others, it went from Rs460 to Rs1000, and for the big users, it could be as much as Rs2000.

The gas prices is going up for different types of users. If you use a little bit of gas, it will cost you more. For example, if you use less than 0.25 cubic meters, you’ll have to pay Rs121 per mmbtu. If you use up to 0.5 cubic meters, it’s Rs150 per mmbtu. If you use 0.60 cubic meters, it will be Rs200 per mmbtu, and for 0.9 cubic meters, it’s Rs250 per mmbtu.

But the big change is for people who use 1 cubic meter of gas each month. Their gas prices used to be Rs400 per mmbtu, but it’s going up to Rs1,000 per mmbtu now.

And if you use 1.5 cubic meters (which was Rs600 per mmbtu), you’ll have to pay Rs1,200 per mmbtu.

Small businesses like local tandoors will pay Rs697 per mmbtu starting from November 1.

The power sector will have to pay between Rs1,050 and Rs3,890 per mmbtu, while the cement industry will pay Rs4,400 per mmbtu.

For businesses that export things, the price will be from Rs2,100 to Rs2,400 per mmbtu. Other businesses that don’t export will pay between Rs2,200 and Rs2,500 per mmbtu.

The reason for this increase is to prevent adding Rs400 billion more to the growing debt. They say that a lot of people are getting cheap gas, and this is hurting the poorest people and small businesses.

Read More :

Approval of salary increment of government employees instead of free electricity.