LAHORE: Although the country’s total installed power generation capacity is set to rise to 46,605 megawatts in the outgoing fiscal year (FY25), substantial capacity payments to idle power plants continue to burden electricity consumers nationwide.
However, energy experts in both the public and private sectors remain optimistic that this capacity payment burden — estimated at Rs12 to Rs15 per unit and passed on to consumers — will gradually decline, as the government has halted new power projects and terminated power purchase agreements (PPAs) with several independent power producers (IPPs).
“The issue of capacity payments is not considered very painful during summer, but it becomes more significant in winter when our total electricity demand drops to just 12,000-13,000 MW,” a senior official at the Ministry of Energy told Dawn on Monday.
According to the Economic Survey, the country’s total installed electricity generation capacity reached 46,605MW, with the energy mix comprising hydel (24.4 per cent), thermal (55.7pc), nuclear (7.8pc) and renewables (12.5pc).
Economic Survey puts total installed power generation capacity at 46,605MW
During July-March FY25, total electricity generation stood at 90,145GWh — hydel (30.4pc), thermal (46.3pc), nuclear (19.1pc), and renewables (4.2pc). Electricity consumption during the same period was 80,111GWh, with households accounting for 49.6pc, industrial users 26.3pc, agriculture 5.7pc, and commercial consumers 8.6pc.
According to the survey, six nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 3,530MW supplied 17,174 million units of electricity during July-March FY25.
The 46,605MW installed capacity includes an addition of over 2,800MW through solar net metering, reflecting a 1.6pc increase compared to the 45,888MW recorded in the corresponding period of FY24.
While thermal power still makes up the largest portion of the electricity supply at 55.7pc, its share has declined in recent years, indicating a shift towards more indigenous and sustainable sources. Hydel, nuclear and renewable sources now collectively account for 53.7pc of total electricity generation.
“If we examine the total installed capacity, almost 50pc comes from IPPs, including around 5,000MW from four RLNG plants owned by the Punjab and federal governments. Excluding these, the share of IPPs is around 16,000-17,000MW. Of this, 4,000-5,000MW worth of plants remain under annual maintenance. Meanwhile, the generation capacity of old government-owned plants at Guddu (Gencos) has also reduced to almost half or so. So, the generation from IPPs usually stays around 10,000MW during summer,” explained an official, on condition of anonymity.
According to him, total generation from IPPs, hydel, nuclear and other non-IPP sources ranges between 33,000MW and 34,000MW, while demand reaches around 32,000MW. “Thus, we roughly pay capacity charges for 1,000-2,000MW in summer and 3,000-5,000MW in winter, when hydel generation declines due to reduced water availability,” he said, adding that terminating PPAs with idle IPPs and halting new power projects would help reduce the overall tariffs.
Dr Fayyaz A. Chaudhry, chairman of the Board of Directors of National Grid Company of Pakistan (formerly NTDC), said the system’s firm capacity — the amount that can be dispatched to the power grid at any time — is around 40,000MW.
He noted that solar power generation, including 4,000-5,000MW from net-metered systems and additional non-net-metered capacity, is not considered firm capacity because it’s unavailable in the evening.
Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2025
