Ogra to hold public hearing on Rs150bn RLNG price revisions after court order

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) will hold a public hearing on November 6 to review and revise Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) prices set over the past decade, following litigation and protests by industrial and CNG consumers against retrospective billing worth Rs150 billion, Dawn reported.

Officials said the hearing will “actualise” RLNG prices from April 2015 onward, after the regulator issued provisional monthly tariffs to Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) without public consultation.

The move follows court directions and rising consumer complaints about backdated billing.

In its notice, Ogra said the review covers imported gas costs, terminal and port charges, PSO and Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) margins, transmission losses, and exchange rate impacts.

The regulator had earlier issued revised RLNG notifications in December 2024 and March 2025, based on audited data, prompting SNGPL to bill consumers retrospectively for seven years.

The Lahore High Court’s Multan Bench ruled on September 11 that Ogra must first hear affected consumers before imposing backdated adjustments. The court called retroactive billing “unfair” and directed the regulator to seek stakeholder input before finalising prices.

Following the decision, Ogra invited industrial, CNG, power, and fertiliser consumers to present objections. The Power Division estimates the disputed bills amount to Rs61 billion, including Rs51.3bn in price differentials and Rs8bn in sales tax. Industrial users and CNG operators argue they cannot absorb the costs, as products sold years ago cannot be repriced.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered an independent inquiry in August, led by a former federal secretary, after industry groups claimed retrospective billing of Rs50bn. The outcome of that inquiry remains pending.

Ogra and SNGPL continue to trade blame for the pricing controversy. SNGPL maintains that Ogra first notified actualised prices for April 2015–June 2022 in December 2024, but later withdrew and reissued them in March 2025 after receiving revised claims from PSO and PLL. Prices for FY23 to FY25 are still under review.