Power levy would have cut consumer costs

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has stayed the government’s plan to collect Rs100 billion from industrial captive power plants under an IMF agreement, which imposed a Rs791 per mmBtu levy to discourage the use of gas by industries for power generation, forcing them to shift to the national grid and using that revenue to cut electricity costs for consumers.

Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro of the IHC suspended the implementation of the levy following a petition filed by 20 major industrial companies...