Minister of Power addresses a press conference

Minister of Power Omer Ayub Khan said on Thursday the recent hike in power tariff will have no bearing on 75 per cent of the domestic consumers.

Speaking at a news conference in the federal capital, he said the increase will fetch a revenue of Rs80 billion.

Slamming the previous PML-N government, the minister said it didn’t jack up power tariff for about a year and a half to win over voters.

He reiterated the government would spend Rs25 billion on improvement of the power system.

He said the flow of circular debt has reduced from Rs38 billion per month to Rs35 billion rupees within a span of three months.

The minister said there is no load-shedding on 80 per cent of the feeders.

He said the government is taking steps to control electricity theft and introduce new renewable energy projects in the country.

He said they have been bearing the brunt of previous government’s flawed policies.

“All our steps are as per laws of the land,” he added.

Mr. Khan cleared that the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) is an independent power regulator operating without any kind of pressure.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of his economic team in Islamabad.

Current economic situation, economic indicators, tax net, economic reforms, eases of doing business and other issues were discussed in the meeting.

On the occasion, PM Imran reviewed over all financial situation of the country.

Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, Advisor on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, Chairman FBR Shabbar Zaidi and others were present in the meeting.

Earlier on October 1, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Shabbar Zaidi had claimed that the board had achieved 90 per cent of the highly aggressive tax collection target for the first quarter of the current fiscal year.