RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) sent SOS call to the government to renegotiate Independent Power Producers (IPPs) agreements and withdraw tax on electricity bills.

In a press conference at the RCCI, the business community representatives expressed deep concern over private power plants, IPPs’ profits, expensive electricity and rising cost of doing business.

RCCI Group Leader Sohail Altaf and President Saqib Rafiq said at present the business community and the common man were very worried about electricity bills, adding that they were giving an SOS call to the government.

It is high time the government felt the pain and revised the agreements made with the independent power producers (IPPs), they said.

The government is paying more than Rs2.3 trillion to the IPPs in terms of capacity charges, the additional payment of Rs580 billion should be audited, Saqib Rafiq said.

RCCI Group Leader Sohail Altaf said the business community and the salaried class had been taxed so much that people had lost their savings and have zero purchasing power.

“It is very unfortunate that the budget was consulted with people who had no knowledge of the ground realities,” he said, adding that the real stakeholders were neither consulted nor taken on board.

This is why the Tajir Dost Scheme was not successful, Mr Altaf said, adding that the government should take immediate steps otherwise the situation would go out of control.

He demanded that there should be no tax on electricity bill.

Senior Vice President Mohammad Hamza Sarosh, while sharing data, said transparency was not kept in the agreements in terms of installed capacity charges, and added that instead of taking rupee and Pakistani inflation numbers they took the dollar and US inflation numbers.

Former RCCI president Raja Amir Iqbal reiterated the demand for immediate audit and accountability of IPPs and said transparency should be brought in the deals made with private power plants.

The high cost of electricity in Pakistan has made our exports less competitive in the open market, he said.

Usman Shaukat said alternative sources of energy should be popularised and the wheeling model should be adopted like the rest of the world.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024