OGRA receives 1,743 complaints against oil, gas sector
By Muhammad Ali Malik

ISLAMABAD—The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has received 1,743 complaints of which 1,554 were against natural gas and the remaining 189 were against decanting of LPG, excessive LPG prices, production and sale of sub-standard lube oil.
According to annual report for the financial year 2006-07 recently released by the Authority, as many as 1,343 complaints have been resolved by the designated officers.
As natural gas is the most widely used fuel, about 90 percent of the complaints related to this sector.
On OGRA’s intervention, gas utilities provided 167 gas connections and relief of Rs.15.146 million to consumers in gas billing during the last financial year.
Further, on receiving complaint of non-provision of gas supply from the residents of a number of localities inhabited by weaker sections of the society, the Authority conducted investigations and found that in 21 cases, the delay was without justification.
Therefore, necessary directions were issued and gas has been provided to the people of these localities and areas by Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL).
Conscious of the fact that an individual consumer is the weaker party, OGRA strives to protect him from possible excesses by the service providers through the complaint resolution mechanism.
The Authority is also persuading the service providers to improve their own complaint handling systems, provide gas connection within stipulated timeframe, improve billing accuracy, ensure expeditious delivery of bills, and provide un-interrupted supply or the right quality with right measurement.
OGRA invention on consumer complaints resulted in direct benefit and relief to 414 complaints mostly the domestic consumers during the said period.
However, more important is the positive effect that it is having on companies’ overall performance.
The Companies are continuously upgrading their own complaint resolution processes, improving the response to complaining consumers qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
They have also improved greatly in compliance of prescribed rules and procedures. This is what the ultimate purpose of OGRA complaint redressal system is and it is gratifying to state that much progress has been made in this direction.