Govt mulls power tariff concessions for non industrial consumers

ISLAMABAD: The government is mulling extending concessional power tariff to domestic and commercial consumers in off-peak months, which will help cut gas demand and ease burden on national exchequer, officials said on Friday.

The industrial sector is already enjoying this facility since November 2020.

Hammad Azhar, Federal Minister for Energy (Power Division) in a tweet said: “Min(istry) of Energy is moving a proposal for seasonal energy pricing for domestic & commercial consumers to encourage power consumption during off-peak months [mostly in winter months].”

“The success of Industrial Energy Package demonstrates that such incentives provide relief & absorb part of surplus capacity,” Azhar further said in the same tweet.

A Power Division official said it would help bring down the capacity payments of billions of rupees, the government was paying to the power producers, especially to the private sector. It would ultimately lessen the burden on the circular debt, as idle capacity would come under use in winter, he added.

In Pakistan, during winter, the power demand reduces to half than that of summer. Most of the private generators remain closed owing to low power demand, but still the government pays the capacity charges to these generators.

The power division official said that already the time of use (ToU) meters or three-phase consumers were getting the facility, now the government might also include the single-phase consumers to the package.

It is to be noted that the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) has recently also approved the long-term Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021-2030. Under the approved IGCEP, the generation mix of 2022, which is dominated by fossil fuel, will shift to clean energy (hydel, solar, wind, nuclear) by the year 2030.