RAWALPINDI( WNAM REPORT: In a press conference at Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), expressing deep concern over private power plants, IPPs’ profits, expensive electricity and rising cost of doing business.
Chamber President Saqib Rafiq said that at present the business community and the common man are very worried about electricity bills. We are giving an SOS call to the government. It is high time for the Government to feel the pain and demand that the agreements made with the independent power producers (IPPs) should be revised. 
The government is paying more than Rs 2.3 trillion to the IPPs in terms of capacity charges, the additional payment of 580 billion rupees should be audited, he added.
Group leader Sohail Altaf said that the business community and the salaried class have been taxed so much that people have lost their savings and have zero purchasing power. It is very unfortunate that the budget was consulted by people who have no knowledge of the ground realities. The real stakeholders were neither consulted nor taken on board and added that that is why the Tajir Dost Scheme was not successful, he added. The government should take immediate steps otherwise the situation will go out of control. There should not be any kind of tax on the electricity bill, he demanded. Senior Vice President Muhammad Hamza Sarosh while sharing the historical data said that 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 presidents Asad Mashadi and Raja Amir Iqbal reiterated the demand for immediate audit and accountability of IPPs and said that 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. Usman Shaukat said that alternative sources of energy should be popularized and the wheeling model should be adopted like the rest of the world.
