ISLAMABAD: Misaligned and reactive policies have perhaps been the greatest woes for Pakistan’s power sector. Be it the 1994 and 2002 power policies, which rightly incentivised the generation business but failed to build a consumer protection mechanism over the years based on past learnings, or more recently, the proposed changes to the sector’s landscape without effective consultation and impact analysis, potentially…
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ISLAMABAD: The Central Power Purchasing Agency and the National Transmission & Despatch Company — both key federal entities — have opposed transmission licence to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Transmission and Grid System Company (KPTGC) that seeks to operate about 7300MW of power supply system in the province over a period of five to 10 years. In response to comments sought by…
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Recent debates in Pakistan over imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) have remained mostly political rather than professional. Unfortunately, energy czars like Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Nadeem Babar focused on political point-scoring instead of finding solutions. In fact, Pakistan has operated its gas system inefficiently and burnt its scarce molecules rather recklessly for decades. Energy issues remain more basic in nature…
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KARACHI: Pakistan expects to save about $8 million by importing low-cost liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company Limited (ENOC) defaulted on its supply commitment last week, a senior official confirmed while talking to Arab News on Saturday. Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL), a state-owned entity that procures and imports the commodity, said on Friday it had arranged one…
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Pakistan’s first and mega High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) project, Lahore-Matiari transmission line, will be ready by April. According to official sources, the project, launched under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), would cost $ 1.68 billion and was the first HVDC project in the country and the second in the entire world. They said the project would help evacuate 4,000MW…
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LAHORE: Punjab has accelerated efforts to establish a provincial power transmission and despatch (T&D) firm on the lines of the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC). In this regard, a summary has been initiated by the provincial energy department which seeks approval to establish Punjab Provincial Grid Company and is currently being reviewed by the provincial cabinet, Dawn has learnt.…
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Due to the ongoing circular debt crisis, electricity rates have been increased by Rs1.95 per unit. While the Finance Minister for Energy, Omar Ayub Khan, blames past governments for neglecting the pertinent issue—rightfully so—it is also worth noting that PTI’s tenure has also seen a sharp increase in debt accumulation. As such, to deflect blame entirely is massively unfair. Instead,…
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The Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) has emphasised that in future the government should not guarantee any liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, which should be based on a competitive market mechanism. So far, the government has guaranteed LNG supplies which has exposed state-run gas companies to financial risk. Already, a foreign commodity trading company has filed a case against state-run…
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ISLAMABAD: The liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply defaults last week by two foreign state-owned companies — Enoc and SOCAR — came as a blessing in disguise to Pakistan as two urgent replacement tenders for February fetched about 16-18 per cent cheaper rates as international market plunged. The urgent tender floated by state-run Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) for second half of…
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The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government announced on Thursday Rs1.95 hike in the power tariff, which it blamed on the agreements made by the previous government with “bad-intentions and corrupt practices”. At a joint press conference with Planning Minister Asad Umar and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Power Tabish Gauhar, Energy Minister Omer Ayub Khan said the government had paid…
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