LAHORE (National Times) – Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir on Wednesday rejected misleading reports that the government had planned an increase in the power tariff.

Taking to Twitter, the minister said no such proposal was under consideration at the Power Division. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had issued cleared instruction about no hike in the electricity prices, he wrote.

“Reports circulating in media are misleading,” he said.

Earlier, reports claimed that the Ministry of Energy had proposed an increase of up to Rs31.60 per unit in power tariff to overcome the giant circular debt of Rs700 billion. The measures were being deliberated to clear hurdles in the way of completion of the ninth review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The global lender is also pushing the federal government to pass on additition burder on power consumers to save the sector from bankruptcy.

The ministry reportedly also proposed an amendment to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Act to collect Rs700 billion from industries, trade sector and other services.