Power generation cost falls 10.3pc in February

KARACHI: Power generation cost declined by 10.3 percent in February this financial year compared to the same month last fiscal as the share of nuclear and hydropower went up in overall electricity generation mix.

The cost of power generation also declined massively by 28.5 percent in the month under review compared to the preceding month of January this fiscal, power generation data showed on Monday.

On the other hand, power generation also recorded 4.1 percent decline in the month of February this financial year compared to the same month of last fiscal.

The data showed that power generation went down by 4.1 percent year-on-year to stand at 7,756 GWh (11,541MW) during February 2023, compared to 8,088 GWh (12,036MW) during February 2022. On month-on-month basis, generation of electricity also decreased by 8.9 percent.

During the first eight months of the current financial year, power generation also decreased by 7.1 percent YoY to 84,840 GWh (14,547MW) compared to 91,281 GWh (15,652MW) during the corresponding months of the last financial year.

In February, generation of hydropower recorded 39.2 percent increase whereas the generation from nuclear sources went up by 85.8 percent. Power generation from RLNG went up 19.3 percent and from solar sources, it was up 41.1 percent.

On the other hand, power generation from coal went down 57.4 percent in the month under review, whereas generation from RFO was down by 79.5 percent. The share of wing in the generation mix also declined 44 percent, with gas down 7 percent.

The share of nuclear sources in the electricity generation doubled to over 24 percent compared to 12.5 percent in the month of February last year and hydel share also rose to 26.5 percent from 18.2 percent.

The share of coal and RFO decreased in February this fiscal. During February 2023, fuel cost for power generation decreased by 10.3 percent YoY and 28.5 percent MoM to an average Rs8.01/KWh compared with an average cost of Rs8.94/KWh and Rs11.20/KWh during February 2022 and January 2023, respectively.

On YoY basis, the decrease in fuel cost was witnessed mainly due to a rise in nuclear, hydel, and solar based generation along with a 4 percent decline in coal-based cost of generation due to the addition of local coal-based power plants.