Driven by continued and targeted investments of PKR36.99 Billion across the power value chain, key operational indicators showed positive growth over comparative period. However, despite showing consistent improvement in reduction of transmission and distribution losses of 1.5%, and driving an increase in the units sent out by 2.8%, KE’s net profitability declined by 84% to settle at PKR 1.5 billion in relation to last year’s PKR 9.44 billion.
The impact of KE’s operational performance was set-off by negative impact of Pakistani rupees’ substantial devaluation in the international currency market resulting in exchange loss of PKR 4 billion in comparison to last year’s gain of PKR 1.2 billion along with an increase in financing cost by PKR 1.4 billion due to increase in effective rate of borrowing and Mid-term review (MTR) decision.
As of March 31st 2022, KE’s net receivables from various Federal and Provincial government entities stood at PKR 53 billion on principal basis. Delays in reconciliation and release of legitimate payments from these entities are severely affecting the Company’s cashflow position and ability to further accelerate investment in key power infrastructure.
Further, on March 01, 2022, NEPRA issued its decision on KE’s MYT Mid-Term Review, wherein NEPRA made a downward adjustment of PKR 0.22/kWhon the utility’s determined tariff and disallowed an additional investment of PKR 138 billion by KE to improve on its services including power supply and reliability.
An important update for this quarter is the finalization and deployment of KE’s 900 MW RLNG-based power project, BQPS-III. Thefirst Unit of 450 MW proceeded with its mandatory testing in March 2022as well as synchronization with KE’s Grid, and is now in the final testing stages before commissioning.
