Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday expressed deep concern over increase in electricity tariff, over-billing, and nationwide protests against them and has urged the government to cut the electricity tariff. LCCI President Kashif Anwar, Senior Vice President Zafar Mahmood Chaudhry and Vice President Adnan Khalid Butt said in a media statement here that recent electricity bills had left the industry, trade and people in a lurch. They said that nationwide protests against over-billing, hike in tax and multi-fold increase in electricity prices could lead to an economic stress and the country could not afford such circumstances. LCCI office-bearers said that the government should provide free electricity and stop electricity theft instead of increasing the electricity prices. They demanded that facility of free electricity for all segments should be withdrawn immediately as the country, facing economic challenges and enormous debt burden, could not afford to provide such facilities. They said that no tax should be levied on electricity bills up to 300 units. They said that electricity was the main raw material of industries, if such anti-industry measures were not avoided, the manufacturing sector would be completely destroyed and the country would remain only a trading place. They said that despite hike in power tariff, the circular debt could not be controlled, while the energy crisis had also become worst due to which the industrial production had come to the lowest level. The LCCI office-bearers said that cost of electricity in Pakistan was already very high compared to other countries in the region. They said that since electricity was an important raw material for industries, Pakistani products would be completely out of competition in the international market. They said that the country had already lost much of the global market to China, Bangladesh and India due to high production cost. They said that more burden was being put on those customers who were paying their dues regularly and whose line losses were least. They said that the tendency of theft would increase due to the increase in electricity prices. The business community was unable to understand why instead of controlling line losses and increasing generation of cheap power, their problems were being compounded. They urged the government to take immediate notice of the situation and announce an immediate reduction in electricity prices.