The LPG crisis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has deepened further, with the price reaching a record high of Rs650 per kilogram in Peshawar and across the province. According to Express News, gas is being sold at arbitrary prices despite the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority fixing the LPG price at Rs280 per kilogram for October, a gap of more than double between the official rate and what consumers are actually paying. The domestic cylinder price has also crossed Rs6,000, putting a basic household necessity sharply out of reach for many families.
The burden falls hardest in Peshawar and other parts of the province where natural gas is unavailable and households depend entirely on cylinders for cooking and heating. Residents say the rising prices have caused real distress, and the silence from the government on the hikes has only added to the frustration. When the regulator’s price is ignored so openly, consumers are left with no practical alternative: they either pay whatever the seller asks or go without gas altogether.
The episode raises a wider question about enforcement. An official price means little if it is not applied at the point of sale, and the widening gap between Rs280 and Rs650 suggests that oversight in the province’s LPG market is failing at exactly the moment households need it most. Until the official rate is enforced or supply is stabilised, families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will continue to bear a cost that the regulator itself has said they should not have to pay.
