Mahanagar Gas on Tuesday announced yet another increase in the retail price of compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region to the tune of Rs 6/kg and Rs 4/SCM respectively, effective from Wednesday early morning.
The revised MRP inclusive of all taxes on CNG will be ₹86/Kg and Domestic PNG Price will be ₹52.50/SCM in and around Mumbai.
The distributor attributed the continuing price increases to rising input gas costs. The company has been sourcing gas from the overseas market to meet the shortfall in domestic gas allocation.
"In order to meet the shortfall in domestic gas allocation, MGL is sourcing additional market-priced natural gas to cater to the increasing requirement of CNG and Domestic PNG segments. On account of the substantial increase in the price of market-determined priced gas coupled with rise in domestic gas price, MGL’s input gas cost has also increased substantially," said an official of MGL defending the increase in the price of gas.
"Being a customer-focused Company, MGL has always tried to maintain price stability for its customers. However, since the increase in input gas cost is significantly high, MGL has decided to recover such increased gas cost. Accordingly, MGL is constrained to increase the MRP of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by ₹6.00/Kg and Domestic Piped Natural Gas (PNG) by ₹4.00/ SCM in and around Mumbai, effective from midnight of August 02, 2022 / early morning of August 03, 2022," he added.
The revised MRP inclusive of all taxes on CNG will be ₹86/Kg and Domestic PNG Price will be ₹52.50/SCM in and around Mumbai. However, according to MGL, the revised MRP of CNG still offers attractive savings of about 44% as compared to petrol at current price levels in Mumbai. MGL’s Domestic PNG at current MRP is cheaper than Domestic LPG while delivering unmatched convenience, safety, reliability and environmental friendliness to consumers.
Earlier on July 13th 2022 MGL had increased the retail price of CNG by Rs 4/kg and PNG by Rs 3/SCM (standard cubic metre). For CNG, this is the 11th hike in the past one year, with the total hike being over Rs 35 a kg between July 2021 and August 2022. Frustrated over repeated hikes, Mumbai Taximen's Union leader A L Quadros has demanded a minimum taxi fare of Rs 35 for Mumbai-proposing a hike of Rs 10 due to the increasing fuel cost burden. "We are going to meet transport department officials on Wednesday to discuss the future course of action," Quadros told FPJ on Tuesday.
