- Claims 874 hours of load shedding annually could save up to Rs100b in capacity payments
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Energy Awais Leghari on Tuesday conceded that electricity costs in Pakistan were the highest in the entire region, claiming that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will announce ‘good news’ about the IPPs issue in a month or two.
“The government is working towards resolving issues related to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and steps being taken to address the energy crisis in the country”, Federal Minister for Energy Awais Leghari stated while addressing the National Youth Convention in Islamabad.
“Reforms are inevitable in the energy sector and the task force has been constituted, in which the agencies’ people have also been included,” he said.
Awais claimed that within one to two months, the government, in collaboration with intelligence agencies and other institutions, will deliver positive news regarding IPPs that will benefit both the public and industrial sectors.
“Within a month or two Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will give ‘good news’ to the public and industries and everyone will benefit from it,” the energy minister expressed his optimism.
Awais highlighted that Pakistan’s actual power generation capacity is 29,000 MW, not the often-cited figure of 45,000 MW.
He noted that the year-round demand is just 7,000 MW, with peak demand reaching 24,000 MW.
The minister explained that maintaining an additional 1,845 MW in the system, which is only required for 85 hours annually, incurs an annual cost of Rs50 billion.
He suggested that if the country could endure 85 hours of load shedding over 40 days, the national exchequer could save Rs50 billion.
Leghari added that enduring 874 hours of load shedding annually, or about 10% of the year, could save up to PKR 100 billion in capacity payments.
“Capacity payments are the price we pay to avoid load shedding,” Awais Leghari remarked.
“I admit, we are providing the most expensive electricity in the region.”
The energy minister revealed that the energy billing has been 1100 billion with 400 billion losses in it.
“We silently worked over the issue of the IPPs but all and sundry joined the bandwagon,” energy minister said. “It became good for us as it brings pressure over the IPPs,” he said.
“We convinced the IPPs within the limits of international contracts,” minister said. “We did the work in three-and-half months, which didn’t happen in Pakistan’s history,” Leghari said.
