Minister for Power Division Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Saturday expressed the hope that privatization of three power distribution companies (DISCOs) would be completed by end of next year.
Sharing the last 9 months performance of power sector under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at press conference here, the minister said the government was moving towards privatization and concession models and already appointed members of Board of Directors (BoDs) of DISCOs purely on merit. Circular debt costs were also being shifted from electricity bills to the national debt to reduce burden on the consumers, he added.
He said the average price of electricity has decreased to Rs 44.04 per unit from Rs 48.70 per unit owing the reforms initiated in power sector by the incumbent government. Similarly, average power tariff for industrial consumers has also decreased to Rs 47.17 per unit from Rs 59.50 per unit, he added.
Both the domestic and industrial consumers have witnessed Rs 4.66 per unit and Rs 11.33 per unit decreases respectively in the tariff since June 2024.
He went on to say that the government has eliminated Rs 150 billion in cross-subsidies from the industrial sector, a step that has boosted industrial growth and job creation in Pakistan. The government was also diligently working on upgrading the transmission sector, including the division of National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) into three entities, he added.
He said NTDC would be divided into three entities including the National Grid Company of Pakistan for efficient and reliable transmission, the Energy Infrastructure Development and Management Company for project management, and the Independent System and Market Operator for a competitive and transparent electricity market.
Awais Leghari said.
Regarding Independent Power Producers (IPPs), he said agreements with five IPPs had been terminated in the first phase which would help savings of Rs 411 billion. In the second phase, agreements with eight bagasse-based IPPs have also been settled which resulted annual savings of Rs 8.826 billion and overall saving of Rs 238.224 billion, he added. He said talks with 16 more IPPs were going on and it would help saving additional Rs 481 billion to the national exchequer.
Regarding switching agricultural tube-wells on solar in Balochistan, the minister said that 27,000 tube-wells were being solarized. The project would cost Rs 55 billion for which 70 per cent share was being provided by the federal while remaining 30 per cent by the provincial government, he added.
He said this initiative would promote green energy and revolutionize the agriculture sector in Balochistan.
Sardar Awais said the incumbent government continued its people-welfare development agenda despite a continuous drive by Imran Khan led political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to create instability in the country .—APP
