{"id":3657,"date":"2026-06-20T10:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=3657"},"modified":"2026-06-20T10:42:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:42:57","slug":"former-pepco-md-says-expensive-electricity-is-root-cause-of-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/?p=3657","title":{"rendered":"Former PEPCO MD Says Expensive Electricity Is Root Cause of Inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Islamabad:<\/strong> Former Managing Director of PEPCO and energy expert Tahir Basharat Cheema<\/strong> has stated that the primary cause of inflation in the country is extremely expensive electricity<\/strong>, which he says has severely strained the national economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Geo News<\/em>, the former energy official said that high electricity costs have pushed the economy to a critical point, making it increasingly difficult for both industries and households to cope with rising expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that the burden of costly electricity has become a major driver of inflation across Pakistan, affecting production costs, household budgets, and overall economic stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tahir Basharat Cheema said that one of the key reasons behind high electricity prices is what he described as \u201cpoor and unfavorable agreements\u201d with Independent Power Producers (IPPs)<\/strong>. He maintained that these agreements have led to excessive capacity payments and long-term financial liabilities for the power sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further suggested that reforms are necessary in the energy sector, including the removal of fixed charges and certain taxes<\/strong> that contribute to higher electricity bills for consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to him, restructuring the power sector and revisiting existing contracts with IPPs are essential steps to bring down electricity prices and provide relief to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The energy expert emphasized that without addressing the structural issues in the power sector, inflationary pressures in the country will continue to persist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remarks come at a time when electricity tariffs remain a major concern for households and industries, with rising energy costs being widely cited as a key factor behind inflation in Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists and policy experts have long pointed out that Pakistan\u2019s energy sector challenges, including circular debt and capacity payments, have placed a significant financial burden on the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tahir Basharat Cheema\u2019s comments add to the ongoing debate over energy reforms, with calls for renegotiating power purchase agreements and improving efficiency in the distribution system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stressed that unless meaningful reforms are implemented in the electricity sector, sustainable economic stability will remain difficult to achieve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Islamabad: Former Managing Director of PEPCO and energy expert Tahir Basharat Cheema has stated that the primary cause of inflation in the country is extremely..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/436441_2035503_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/436441_2035503_updates-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/436441_2035503_updates-1-300x171.jpg",300,171,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/436441_2035503_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/436441_2035503_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/436441_2035503_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/436441_2035503_updates-1.jpg",700,400,false]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Business<\/a>","tag_info":"Business","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3659,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3657\/revisions\/3659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}