NEPRA promoting competition in electricity market

Admits power tariff in Pakistan is high compared to the region

FAISALABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) is trying to promote an electricity market that is based on competition in an attempt to enable consumers to purchase power from the company of their choice, reveals Nepra Director Consumer Affairs Engineer Imtiaz Hussain Baloch.

Speaking to industrialists and businessmen at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) on Thursday, Baloch said the fundamental responsibilities of Nepra were to issue licences to power generating companies, fix electricity tariffs and implement laws in addition to protecting the rights and interests of end-consumers.

Acknowledging that the electricity price was high in Pakistan compared to regional countries, he said the main factor behind that was the production of costly electricity to the maximum in the basket of energy mix.

After 1992, no major hydroelectric power plant had been installed, except for an 84-megawatt hydel unit established by the private sector.

Now, efforts were being made to produce cheap electricity through coal-fired power plants and its impact was expected to be passed on to the consumers after 2018, he said.

Baloch endorsed the call for holding tariff determination meetings for the Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company (Fesco) in Faisalabad and gave assurances to the businessmen that the next sitting in that respect would definitely be held in the city.

He highlighted that a comprehensive procedure had been worked out to purchase surplus electricity from the private sector. Under this arrangement, any power producer could provide extra electricity at one point and receive it back from another point.

FCCI President Engineer Muhammad Saeed Sheikh pointed out that the electricity tariff was 14 cents in Pakistan while it was available at nine cents in India and Sri Lanka.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2016.

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