The total cost of generating electricity in the country increased significantly by 59%, hitting Rs11.20 KWh in January 2023 compared to Rs7.04 KWh registered in the month of December.

However, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, electricity generation cost declined by 8.3%.

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

“While on MoM basis, the rise in fuel cost is triggered by a decline in hydel and nuclear-based generation,” it added.

The power generation in the country witnessed a marginal increase of 1.2% on a monthly basis to 8,515 GWh (11,445 MW) in January 2023, compared to 8,417 GWh in December. On a yearly basis, electricity generation registered a drop of 3.2%, as compared to 8,797 GWh (11,824 MW) recorded in January 2022.

During 7MFY23, power generation also decreased by 7.3% YoY to 77,085 GWh (14,939 MW) compared to 83,193 GWh (16,123 MW) during 7MFY22.

Moreover, the cost of power generation during the first seven months of the ongoing fiscal year was up 21.9%, from Rs7.68 in 7MFY22 to Rs9.36 in 7MFY23.

Data on generation mix revealed that electricity generation decline on a yearly basis was led by coal 2,444 GWh, and Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) 463 GWh, which decreased by 16.2% and 62.6%, respectively.

Pakistan's power generation cost increases significantly in December

Meanwhile, power generation from hydel and RLNG sources stood at 800 GWh and 1,286 GWh respectively, showing an increase of 56% and 105.2%, respectively, on a yearly basis.

In January, coal was the leading source of power generation, accounting for 28.7% of the generation mix, to become the largest source of electricity generation in the country. Followed by nuclear, this accounted for 22% of the overall generation, registering a generation of 1,876 GWh in January up by 48.3% YoY.

Moreover, electricity generation from wind sources improved by 47.4% on a yearly basis to 287 GWh, while power generation from other renewable sources such as solar also witnessed a 54.9% increase on a yearly basis at 72 GWh.