PBF says concerned at prolonged power outages

The Pakistan Business Forum has expressed concern that long power cuts are hurting factories and commerce, with exporters struggling to meet overseas orders on time. According to Business Recorder, the group questioned how load shedding persists when the country has 49,651 megawatts of generation capacity. Consumers, the PBF noted, have paid IPPs Rs13,397 billion across the last five years, yet only Rs7,275 billion of that financed real generation.

Ahmad Jawad, the PBF Chief Organiser, said consumers in several areas are currently facing as many as 12 hours of load shedding, even as production costs remain steep relative to regional peers. The forum wants the Power Division to publish current demand, actual output and the shortfall covered by load shedding, plus a list of operating plants and their output. Citing the Power Division, the PBF said RLNG unavailability and a delayed LNG cargo affected roughly 3,600 MW, and it asked how one cargo could have such a large effect.

Circular debt, the PBF added, climbed 709 percent to Rs364 billion last fiscal year, and the forum questioned yearly capacity payments of about Rs1.8 trillion for idle generation. It also contrasted average tariffs of around Rs8.30 per unit under Nawaz Sharif, excluding taxes, with nearly Rs29 under Shehbaz Sharif. The group wants a public report explaining repeated tariff increases, plus full details of IPP capacity payments, fixed charges and contractual obligations.