Electricity generation drops 13.87 percent to 8,639 GWh in April

KARACHI: The power generation fell 13.87 percent to 8,639 GWh (11,612 MW) in April compared to the same month last year, due to a reduction in electricity generation from RLNG, gas, local coal, and wind, data showed on Tuesday.

The country produced 2,157 GWh of electricity from RLNG, 2,070 GWh from hydel, 2,043 GWh from nuclear, 975 GWh from gas, 881 GWh from local coal, etc.However, it increased by 7.7 percent in the month of April compared to the month of March when it registered 8,023 GWh.

The monthly increase was due to improved generation from Re-gasified Liquid Natural Gas (RLNG) (30.1 percent), and gas (22.6 percent).In the first ten months of this financial year (July to April), power generation decreased by 2.4 percent year-on-year to 101,089 GWh compared to 103,592 GWh in the same period last year. The decline was due to lower generation from nuclear (9 percent) and gas (23.9 percent).

During April 2024, the actual power generation was 20.4 percent lower than the reference generation, according to the report of brokerage Arif Habib Limited. "This decline in generation is expected to result in higher capacity charges for the fourth quarter of this fiscal year, according to the quarterly tariff adjustment."

Meanwhile, the total cost of generating electricity in the country decreased significantly by 10.1 percent, registering at Rs9.21 per kWh in April 2024 compared to Rs10.24 per kWh in the same period of the previous year. The decrease in cost is attributed to the decrease in power generation cost from RLNG, which declined to Rs22.13 per kWh, a fall of 7.2 percent, as compared to Rs23.83 per kWh in the same period last year.

In April, RLNG emerged as the leading source of power generation, accounting for 25 percent of the generation mix, becoming the largest source of electricity generation in the country. This was followed by hydel, which accounted for 24 percent of the overall generation, ahead of nuclear, which accounted for 23.6 percent of the power generation share.

Among renewables, wind, solar, and bagasse generation amounted to 3.3 percent, 1.3 percent, and 0.6 percent, respectively, of the generation mix.During the first ten months, hydel remained the leading source of power generation with 31 percent, nuclear 18.6 percent, RLNG 18.4 percent, local coal 12.2 percent, gas 9.1 percent, wind three percent, solar 0.8 percent, coal imported 4 percent, RFO 2.1 percent, etc.