ECC Delays Decision on Gas Tariff for Power Plants After Officials Skip Meeting

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has put off a decision about how much LNG-based power plants should pay for local natural gas — and it happened because the officials who were supposed to explain the proposal simply didn’t show up.

The Petroleum Division had asked for approval to charge a higher rate on domestic gas that was sent to power plants during the recent LNG supply crunch, which was caused by the Middle East conflict. But when it came time to discuss it, neither the Petroleum Secretary, who had submitted the proposal, nor the Special Secretary Petroleum, were in the room.

Understandably, ECC members weren’t happy about it. They said it’s hard to make a proper decision when the ministry that put forward the proposal isn’t even there to answer questions. So the whole thing has been pushed back until Petroleum Division officials come and explain things properly. The committee also made it clear going forward — whenever a ministry brings a proposal to the ECC, its top official needs to be there in person.

Why the gas was diverted in the first place

Here’s the backstory. Between April and June 2026, Pakistan had to redirect local gas supplies to LNG-based power plants. Because LNG imports from Qatar got disrupted during the US-Iran conflict, and the government needed to keep the lights on during peak summer heat.

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To make this work, gas supplies to CNG stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were temporarily cut off, freeing up around 48 million cubic feet of gas per day for the power sector. This whole emergency plan came together after QatarEnergy declared force majeure on some LNG shipments, leaving Pakistan scrambling for fuel.

Power Division says a higher tariff will hurt consumers

Now here’s where it gets tricky. The Power Division doesn’t want this diverted gas to be charged at the standard RLNG rate, warning that it would push up the cost of generating electricity. If that happens, power producers may demand fuel cost adjustments, and consumers could end up paying anywhere from 50 paisa to a rupee more per unit of electricity.

To avoid burdening consumers, the Prime Minister had earlier chaired a meeting where it was decided that SNGPL should charge a lower rate — Rs2,000 per mmBtu — instead of the usual RLNG price. This was later sent for review to the National Coordination and Management Council.

But the Petroleum Division isn’t on board

The Petroleum Division sees things differently. They argue that selling gas below the standard RLNG rate means less revenue coming in, which only adds to the financial mess the gas sector is already in. According to them, this shortfall feeds into the circular debt problem — which had already piled up to around Rs1.8 trillion by the end of December 2025.

Their point is that charging the full rate would actually help SNGPL recover money it’s owed from RLNG sales and get its finances back on track.

RLNG prices have jumped

For context, OGRA had set the RLNG price at $12.49 per mmBtu (about Rs3,498) back in March 2026. By May, that number had climbed sharply to $15.62 per mmBtu (around Rs4,375), driven by shifts in the global market.

Meanwhile, OGRA’s own estimate puts SNGPL’s average gas price at Rs1,853 per mmBtu for this financial year — though that figure could still change once the year’s accounts are finalized.

The bigger policy picture

The Petroleum Division also reminded the ECC that under recent changes to the OGRA Ordinance 2002, the regulator has the power to set monthly RLNG prices based on federal government guidelines.

The system is designed so that international LNG price swings don’t directly hit local gas consumers — that’s the whole point of the “ring-fenced” pricing model. But when gas gets diverted for other uses, like it was this time, the cost eventually gets recovered through future price adjustments.