The government has devised a plan to provide electricity to all citizens of the country by 2030, which will be renewable dominant.
In this regard, the National Electric and Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has issued a National Electricity Plan to ensure 100 percent energy access for all by 2030. The government, through this National Electricity Plan, has launched Universal National Electrification (UNE) program to enable a 100 percent electrification target by 2030.
Every three years, each DISCO, with the support of the respective provincial government, will carry out and update GIS-based assessment of non-electrified areas within its respective service territory. Energy subsidies are the key policy instruments to meet the socio-economic objectives of the government through alleviation of energy poverty and enabling access to affordable energy services.
The policy says that tariffs for residential consumers shall be progressively adjusted to align with the principle of cost-of-service. Subsidies to the protected categories of residential consumers shall be disbursed directly pursuant to the detailed action plan to be developed under Strategic Directive.
The policy also suggested for promotion of cross-border electricity cooperation. It says increased cross-border electricity cooperation can help bring down electricity prices, enhance resilience, aid high penetration of renewables and facilitate the clean energy transition.
The CASA-1000 interconnect (primarily designed for the import of electricity) will also be utilized for the export of electricity through bilateral/multilateral arrangements, said in the policy. Future opportunities for cross-border export and import of electricity shall be explored to enable efficient utilization of available capacity, and/or energy, system stability, and geo-spatial diversity.
It is suggested to enhance the hydel generation during the next ten years. According to the plan, the share of the hydel generation will be increased to 40 percent of total general capacity by the fiscal year 2025. This share will be further increased to 60 percent of total generation capacity by the next five years, i.e. fiscal year 2030.
The policy also says that the share of indigenous resources shall be progressively increased in the generation mix. The share of indigenous resources in the generation mix will be increased to 60 percent by the fiscal year 2025 and 75 percent by the Fiscal Year 2030. Power generation from imported coal will also be re-evaluated in terms of its conversion to local coal or relaxation of existing take-or-pay energy commitments.
The strategic roadmap will provide targets for DISCOs for the reduction in AT&C losses, improvement in recoveries, on account of bill collections and theft reduction, reduction in commercial load shedding, and enhanced consumer services through a reduction in the number of approvals, and development and strengthening of the safety management system.
Regarding social protection, the policy says that a detailed action plan will be devised to enable direct payment of subsidies and integrate Electricity-CNIC Database (ECD) with NSER. It will also be integrated with welfare score comprising of socio-economic aspects, energy poverty, and electricity consumption for the purpose of subsidy eligibility.
The MoE (Power Division), in collaboration with MoNFS&R, will devise a detailed action plan to enable direct subsidy disbursements to the eligible agricultural consumers. Uniform tariff across regions for regulated consumers serves as a policy tool to facilitate social equity, regional development, and associated socio-economic objectives of the Government. The government will continue to maintain and notify a uniform tariff for all consumers of Last Resort Suppliers. The same will be applicable for existing XW-DISCOs even after privatization in any mode.ALSO READSurplus Funds of Rs 1.4 Billion with Pak Missions Abroad to be Invested
The suitable incentive schemes and mechanisms for electricity consumers can serve as a tool to accelerate the agenda of the sustainable energy transition. In this regard, a system value framework will be developed that will enable the designing and evaluation of various proposals and policy interventions including incentive schemes for electricity consumers, taking into account technical, economic, social, and environmental aspects.
