At a time when electricity bills are rising, the cost of electricity generation in Pakistan saw a decline of over 8% in October 2023.
The cost of electricity generation in October stood at Rs 8.26/KWh on an average, compared to an average of Rs 9.02/KWh in the same period last year, registering an 8.4% year-on-year decline, brokerage firm Arif Habib Limited said (AHL) on Tuesday.
Despite the decline, the cost of electricity generation is still higher than the reference cost of Rs 7.89/KWh, AHL said.
“The decline in fuel cost on an annual basis is mainly due to the decline in the cost of production based on imported coal and Regasified Liquid Natural Gas (RLNG).
However, rising electricity bills despite the decline in electricity generation costs have become a headache for the country’s people, who are already feeling the pinch of high inflation and slow economic activity.
On a monthly basis, the cost of electricity generation increased by 11.4% compared to the average cost of Rs 7.4 crore in September.
Meanwhile, electricity generation in the country stood at 9,572 GWh (12,866 MW) in October 2023; This is 10.6% lower than the same period last year.
In October 2022, electricity production was at 10,705 GWh (14,388 MW).
AHL said the year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in power generation was due to reduced electricity generation from imported coal-based sources, which was down 71% year-on-year to 336 GWh in October 2023.
Outside of imported coal, the annual decline was attributed to declines in nuclear (17.2%), gas (45.7%) and RFO (99.9%).
On a monthly basis, electricity production decreased by 28.2% compared to 13,339 GWh recorded in September.
Electricity generation, which was 51,786 GWh (17,543 MW) in 4MFY23, increased by 3.7% year on year to 53,710 GWh (18,195 MW) in 4MFY24.
In October, hydel became the largest source of electricity generation in the country, accounting for 32.5% of electricity generation. This was followed by RLNG, which accounted for 20.3% of total generation, and nuclear, which accounted for 19.1% of electricity generation.
Among renewable sources, wind, solar and bagasse production accounted for 2%, 0.8% and 0.3% of production.
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