In a first, Iesco gets suppliers licence

After a decades-long delay, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has started granting first-ever separate licences of Suppliers of Last Resort (SoLR) to existing distribution companies (Discos) for 20 years to bifurcate their distribution (wire & pole infrastructure) and electricity supply (commercial & billing etc) businesses for future bilateral competitive power business. This should have happened in the 1990s under the power sector reforms programme to allow multiple suppliers and buyers in the competitive electricity market but successive governments failed to make progress and the entire electricity operations remained the exclusive right of Discos in a monopolised format. Now, these firms will have two parallel licences for each business and a different set of obligations. Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco) which has the exclusive electricity rights over Islamabad Capital Territory, parts of Punjab and Azad Kashmir emerged as the first company to be given a separate suppliers licence by Nepra with a backdated effect from April 27, 2023 for 20 years ending April 26, 2043.