Local coal can generate 'cheap' electricity

Express Tribune

26-02-2025

The power division officials on Wednesday informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Energy, which met with Committee Chairman Muhammad Idrees in the chair, that the they were working on the provision of interest-free loans to shift tube wells to solar energy.
The Power Division secretary also informed the committee that authorities were in negotiations with the IMF for reduction in the taxes on the electricity bills. Currently, he added, Rs 800 to 900 billion taxes were collected from electricity bills alone.
The committee discussed various issues relating to the generation cost and the billing to the consumers. The meeting was informed that power generation from imported coal cost Rs16 per unit, while local coal cost Rs4 per unit.
During the meeting, committee member Rana Muhammad Hayat pointed out that the electricity bills and the expenses of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had been increasing during past four years. He asked the official about the cheaper sources of power generation
On that the Power Division officials replied that the cost of electricity from local coal would be Rs4 per unit. "Currently, the cost of electricity from imported coal is Rs16 per unit, and the cost of generating electricity from oil is Rs30 to 32 per unit," said the reply.
Another committee member Syed Mustafa Kamal raised the question about any plan to switch to coal-based plants after shutting down hydro-electric (hydel) and thermal projects. "What will be the plan if there is a problem with coal-based plants in the future," he asked.
The Power Division secretary said that the department was working on forecast for power plants for the next 10 years, adding that many of the oil-fired power plants would be shut down in the next three years. "We can set up coal plants in a short period of time," the secretary stated.
Malik Anwar Taj asked about the planning to lay underground electricity cables to reduce theft and losses. He pointed out that Islamabad incurred lesser losses and theft cases because of the underground cables. However, the secretary stressed that it was not the complete solution to those problems.
Kamal stressed the need for breaking monopoly of the power utility, saying that K-Electric was privatised but its monopoly over power distribution in Karachi remained intact, so the people were forced to buy electricity only from K-Electric. People should have the option to switch to other utility, he suggested.
The secretary agreed with the lawmaker and told the committee that the Power Division was working on plan to creating a free electricity market. "Consumers will be able to buy electricity from any company, they wish," he said.
"Very soon electricity consumers will also be able to read their own meters. We are working on developing mobile apps for all DISCOs [Distribution Companies] and the consumers will be able to take a picture of the meter reading history from their mobile phones and send it," he added.
The meeting formed a sub-committee to look into the issue of 7.8 million additional units for the consumers of Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) consumers. Officials said that 800,000 meters had been replaced in Islamabad, while another 1.2 million meters would be replaced with smart meters.