The oil marketing companies have increased the security deposit for new domestic LPG connections by Rs 750. Hence from June 16, the new revised price per connection will be Rs 2,200 under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
The price of gas regulators has also moved up. The customers have to pay a sum of Rs 250 to get a regulator in place of the earlier 150 rupees.
The earlier price of a new LPG connection stood at Rs 1450. Now the customers will have to make a security deposit of Rs 4,400 for taking two cylinders weighing 14.4 kg each for a new connection. This means that the customers will have to pay an additional charge of Rs 1500.
LPG consumption was 28.1% more than June 2019 demand and 2.9% higher than 1.03 million tonnes in May 2022.
For a 5 kg cylinder, a sum of Rs 1150, instead of Rs 800, will have to be paid as security money by the customers. For the pipe and passbook, which comes with every new connection, Rs 150 and Rs 25 will have to be paid respectively.
Economists raised concern that with the LPG cooking gas reaching almost every household, the price hikes will affect more and more people. This increase in deposit money for new LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) will not be affordable to the needy.
Notably, in the last month, the prices of 14.2 kg LPG cylinders or cooking gas cylinders went up by Rs 3.50 per cylinder whereas the cost of a commercial cylinder rose by Rs 8 per cylinder after the recent revision in LPG cylinder prices by state-backed oil marketing companies or OMCs.
