LPG dealers, depots seek commission hike

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) — popularly known as cooking gas —
dealers and depots have asked the government to hike their commission
rates by at least five per cent.
“We want a commission of Rs 72 on a cylinder,” said president of Federation of LPG Sellers Gyaneshwor Acharya.
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has hiked the commission of dealers and depots
by Rs 30 to Rs 32 this week, but they are not happy with the hike. “The hike is insufficient," said president of Gas Distributors’ Association-Nepal Chandra Krishna Shrestha.
The dealers and depots have threatened to halt consumer card distribution, if their demand is not addressed soon. “We have given the government a deadline of July 9 to hike the commission," said vice president of Nepal LPG Distributors Association Arjun Devkota.
LPG dealers and depots are also exploring other ways to protest to build pressure on the government. We are doing homework on it, Devkota added.
The government has implemented dual colour cylinders across the country but limited subsidy on cylinders for domestic use has not yet been started due to lack of preparation and consumer cards distribution.
The government has decided to provide subsidy on six cooking gas cylinders for a family in a year.
The country has a monthly demand of about 16,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas. About 1.1 million families have been using cooking gas for cooking and heating purposes and there are more than four million cylinders in the market.
the state oil monopoly and LPG bottlers have distributed consumer cards to just one-third of the 958‚671 domestic consumers.
According to NOC, it is bearing a loss of around Rs 358.6 on a cylinder at the current price. The latest hike in commission — from Rs 30 to Rs 32 — has already added an extra burden of Rs 20 million on NOC.
NOC recently hiked bottling commission from Rs 28 per cylinder to Rs 47. LPG bottlers had protested for two weeks in May/June for a hike in commission.