Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The government was taking steps for launching alternate energy projects to provide electricity on cheap rates to consumers.
Expressing these views in a private news channel programme, Minister for Energy, Omar Ayub Khan said Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government was taking all possible measures to introduce cheap electricity in near future. Installing new power plants would also bring the energy rates down, he added.
Lamenting over the weak policies of the previous governments, he said costly agreements were made with power companies, due to which, people had to face trouble in paying utility bills.
Appreciating the working of the energy department, he said the department had recovered Rs. 112 billion after controlling electricity theft from various parts of the country. To a question, the federal minister said the government had to bear an extra burden of Rs.350 billion by using imported coal for producing electricity.
He said besides renewal energy plants, focus on wind and hydel resources would help address the problems in the power sector.
To another question, he said the previous governments of Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had controlled the tariff rate artificially, the minister added.
A new energy policy would be constituted to balance the system in the electricity sector, he stated.
