Power generation in the country went down by 5.2 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to 10,705 gigawatts per hour (GWh) in October 2022, compared to 11,296 GWh in October 2021.
The decline in power generation was largely due to lower power generation from furnace oil (FO), re-gasified liquified natural gas (RLNG), and coal by 87 percent, 32 percent, and 12 percent YoY, respectively. The decline in power generation was triggered by the overall decline in economic activity across the country.
On a YoY basis, nuclear and solar-based power generation witnessed increases of 58 percent and 25 percent, respectively during the period under review. The rise in nuclear-based power generation was due to the addition of the third Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP-3) to the system.
Likewise, both wind and hydel-based power generation increased by 20 percent YoY in October. The rise in wind-based power generation was due to the addition of new plants in the system, and the rise in hydel-based power generation was due to the addition of Karot Hydro Power, while Neelam Jhelum was unavailable due to a technical fault.
The major power contributors during October were Hydel with a 29 percent share, nuclear (21 percent), RLNG (17 percent), coal (16 percent), gas (12 percent), wind (2 percent), FO (2 percent), solar (1 percent), and bagasse (0.4 percent).
Fuel costs
During October 2022, fuel costs for power generation decreased by 3.0 percent YoY or 9 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis to an average of Rs. 9.02 KWh, compared with an average cost of Rs. 9.30 KWh and Rs. 9.91 KWh during October 2021 and September 2022, respectively. On a YoY basis, the decline in fuel costs was witnessed after 22 months.
