Islamabad, Sep 24: Pakistan’s Power Generation Hits lowest level in seven years, declining by 17.4% year-over-year (YoY) in August 2024.
This sharp fall reflects the ongoing economic challenges and decreased energy demand, according to an AHL Research report.
Power generation for the month was recorded at 13,179 gigawatt-hours (GWh) or 17,714 megawatts (MW), down from 15,959 GWh (21,450 MW) in August 2023. On a month-over-month (MoM) basis, the sector also saw an 11.4% decline.
For the first two months of the fiscal year 2025 (2MFY25), power generation decreased by 8.9% YoY to 28,059 GWh, compared to 30,798 GWh during the same period last year.
The decline in actual power generation—13.1% lower than the reference level—could lead to higher capacity charges for the second quarter of FY25’s tariff adjustments.
Fuel costs for power generation fell 9.3% YoY to PKR 7.49 per kilowatt-hour (KWh), with local coal and residual fuel oil (RFO) costs contributing to the reduction.
Hydel and nuclear power’s share of the total generation mix increased to 40.7% and 16.6%, respectively, up from 37.6% and 12.8% in August 2023.
Due to lower energy demand, the load factor of combined cycle power plants hit zero, while local coal plants operated at a 66% load factor.
Hydel-based power generation also dropped 10.2% YoY, mainly due to reduced output from WAPDA and no dispatches from Tarbela and Neelum Jhelum plants.
Fuel cost adjustments are set to refund customers PKR 0.58 per KWh in their October 2024 bills, as actual fuel costs were lower than the reference costs forecasted for FY25.
