In the fifth hike effected in three months that 24 lakh consumers in the metropolis, the Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) will go in for an increase in the the prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural gas (PNG) with effect from midnight of Saturday.

The basic price of CNG is being increased by Rs 2.50 per kg,  while the domestic PNG is being hiked by Rs 1.50 per Standard Cubic Meter (SCM) for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Accordingly, the revised all-inclusive prices of CNG that fuels vehicles will go up from Rs 63.50/kg to Rs.66.00/kg, the domestic PNG shall shoot up from Rs 38 per SCM to Rs.39.50 per SCM.

This is the fifth hike in CNG and PNG prices carried out by the MGL since October 14. The hike will hit the domestic budgets of 16 lakh people living in the metropolis and neighbouring areas, eight lakh consumers using gas-powered vehicles will have to spend more because of the hike.The MGL had increased the prices PNG and CNG in the first week of October 2021, ahead of the festive season. It went in for one more hike on October 14.

On November 26 last year, the MGL increased the basic prices of CNG by Rs.3.06 per kg and domestic PNG by Rs. 2.26 per SCM for the MMR. As a consequence, the revised all-inclusive prices of CNG used by vehicles will go up from Rs. 57.54 per kg to Rs. 61.50 per kg, while the domestic PNG will be Rs. 36.50 per SCM, in a single slab henceforth.

On December 17/18, the MGL had increased the rates of CNG by Rs 2.00 per kg and PNG by Rs 1.50 per SCM.

The MGL has sought to justify the latest hike in gas prices by saying that it had increased the prices to meet the shortfall in domestic gas allocation, it is sourcing additional market priced natural gas to cater to the increasing requirement of CNG and Domestic PNG segments. An MGL spokesperson said that on account of substantial increase in market priced natural gas price, its input gas cost has also increased substantially, and the fresh hike for consumers was expected to partly offset its costs.However, the MGL has claimed that despite the fresh hikes, the CNG offers attractive savings of around 59 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, compared with petrol and diesel at current prices, and PNG saves around 22 percent in comparison with the prices of domestic LPG cylinders.