The total cost of generating electricity in the country jumped 57%, hitting Rs10.06 KWh in August 2022 compared to Rs6.41 kWh registered in the same month last year.

However, on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, electricity generation cost was down 6%.

“On an MoM basis, the decrease in fuel cost is witnessed mainly due to a rise in hydel and solar-based generation,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL) in a note on Saturday.

“In addition, RLNG, Nuclear and FO-based costs of generation declined by 12.6% MoM, 2.8% MoM and 0.2% MoM, respectively,” it added.

Moreover, Pakistan's power generation registered a drop of 12.6% YoY to 14,053 GWh (18,888 MW) during August 22, compared to 16,078 GWh (21,610 MW) in the same month last year.

Data on generation mix revealed that electricity generation decline on a yearly basis was led by furnace oil (FO) 1021 GWh, and Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) 1,756GWh, which decreased by 37.2% and 39.4%, respectively.

Pakistan's electricity generation cost up 131% YoY

Moreover, power generation from hydel and coal sources stood at 5,354 GWh and 2,163 GWh respectively, also showing a YoY decline of 4.3% and 5.7%, respectively.

On a MoM basis, generation also decreased by 0.7%. During 2MFY23, power generation also decreased by 11.2% YoY to 28,203 GWh (18,954 MW) compared to 31,758 GWh (21,343 MW) during 2MFY22.

In August, hydel was the leading source of power generation, accounting for 38.1% of the generation mix. Whereas, power generation from coal improved to 15.4%, while nuclear emerged as the third leading source of generation with 13.3% generation in August 2022.