Pakistan owes $1.2bn to Chinese power producers

The government on Wednesday reported the outstanding payables to the Chinese power producers at around Rs360 billion (about $1.25bn) as it pleaded to charge Rs1.83 per unit additional cost from consumers of ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) in October. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), which held a public hearing on the request of the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) for recovering an additional Rs28.3bn or Rs1.83 per unit fuel cost adjustment in Discos’ tariffs for electricity consumed in August, noted that a series of cheaper power plants remained unutilised because of transmission constraints, thus adding unnecessary burden on consumers. It would announce its decision in a few days after verification and reconciliation of data. The CPPA reported that fuel cost in August this year was cheaper at about Rs8.29 per unit when compared to Rs9.9 per unit of the same month last year because of higher generation from local resources. It was pointed out that about 3,000MW of relatively cheaper electricity in the south — Thar coal, wind and solar — could not be evacuated to consumption centres in the north due to transmission constraints and expensive furnace oil-based plants had to be operated to meet 13pc higher demand.