Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Federal Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir Khan on Wednesday said fuel adjustment charges have reduced from 9.89 rupees to only 22 paisa per unit in the month of August.
Responding to a calling attention notice regarding electricity price hike, the minister said the government has exempted the agriculture tube wells from fuel price adjustment.
The Minister said the government has decided not to use imported fuel for electricity generation to reduce the production cost. He said the government will now focus on producing electricity through indigenous resources such as solar, wind, hydel, nuclear and Thar coal.
Khurram Dastgir said the Thar Coal Project will start generating 1320 megawatts by December this year. He said this project will start producing 2640 megawatts before next summer.
Dastgir Khan further said that the electricity consumers were given up to Rs 65 billion relief in fuel price adjustment during the last two months. He said that the fuel price adjustment amounting Rs 9.89 was charged on a unit during June as electricity was produced using expensive fuel, including Furnace oil, High Speed Diesel and Coal. “The adjustment for June was Rs 9.88 per unit while now it has been now reduced to 22 paisa per unit,” he said.
The electricity consumers, he said, using up to 300 units during the month of June had been provided relief and its overall impact was Rs 35 billion. Similarly, the tube wells were also exempted from FPA during June, he added.
He said that as per instructions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the government had fully passed on the relief to the consumers. “The electricity consumers would see the relief in the electricity bill in the next month as fuel price adjustment has been reduced from Rs 9.89 to 22 paisa” he maintained.
The minister said that total electricity generation from local Thar coal would jump to 1,320 MW in December with the addition of 330 MW by ThalNova Power, a plant of Thar Ltd.
The prime minister, the other day, formally inaugurated 330 MW HUBCO Thar Coal Power Plant which increased the electricity generation to 990 MW from local Thar coal.
Dastgir said that another 1,320 MW Shanghi Electric Thar Coal Power Project under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would become operational before the next summer which would help double the electricity generation to 2,640 MW.
