Power generation surges 2.2pc

KARACHI: The country’s power generation witnessed an uptick of 2.2 percent to 10,446GWh during August as compared to 10,221GWh during the same month of 2015.

Major contribution towards enhanced generation stemmed from hydel, furnace oil and gas. Incline from oil generation is attributable to higher generation at Northern Block-2 - GENCO-III, Nandipur - GENCO-III, and Hub Power.

Rao Amir Ali at Arif Habib Limited said lower oil prices encouraged higher oil-based generation, which increased 40.9 percent YoY in August. “On the other hand, generation from hydel and gas registered a YoY decline of three percent to 4,250GWh and 12 percent to 2,344GWh, respectively.

On a sequential basis, total generation exhibited a decline of 2.5 percent MoM as compared to 10,715GWh during July 2016.” As per the latest available data, hydel generation has the highest weight, ie, 40.7 percent in the generation mix; followed by furnace oil (29.2 percent) and gas (22.4 percent).

The furnace oil's share of 29.2 percent in the generation pie has witnessed a growth of 735bps YoY as compared to 21.9 percent in the same period of the last year. Average cost of electricity generation during August stood at Rs4.2/KWh in contrast to Rs4.3/KWh in August 2015. “This was primarily owed to the downward trend in oil prices, as furnace oil and high-speed diesel prices dipped 12.3 percent and 11.6 percent YoY, respectively.