Residents across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will have to pay more to purchase Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) from October 1, after Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) hiked the prices by Re 1. The company has attributed the CNG price hike to a rise in input gas costs. With the latest revision, CNG supplied by MGL will now cost Rs 89 per kg from Thursday.

According to MGL, the increase has been necessitated by the rise in prices of domestically produced gas and imported Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG), amid the ongoing West Asia crisis.

The company also said that a larger share of the increase in demand for CNG was being met through spot RLNG – the prices of which have also risen. With the rise in prices, MGL had to procure imported RLNG at higher costs, increasing its overall input expenses.

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MGL said the latest price revision would partially offset the increase in the cost of input gas and help maintain a sustained supply of natural gas to its customers.

The CNG price hike will affect nearly 12.93 lakh vehicles across the MMR that run on MGL-supplied CNG. These include auto-rickshaws, taxis, private vehicles, and vehicles operated by transport authorities.

The latest increase comes a month after MGL raised the price of CNG by Rs 2 per kg, taking it to Rs 88 per kg from September. Prior to that, in May, the company had increased the price of CNG to Rs 86 per kg and piped natural gas (PNG) to Rs 52 per standard cubic metre (SCM).

In May, the price hike was attributed to higher gas procurement costs arising from reduced allocation of domestic gas and depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar.

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Meanwhile, MGL said it would continue to explore ways to optimise gas procurement while promoting natural gas as a cleaner fuel alternative.