Nepra okays $58bn 11-year power plan amid reservations

Nepra has conditionally cleared the Integrated System Plan 2025, according to Dawn, which projects about $58bn of spending on power generation and transmission across an 11-year horizon running from 2025 to 2035. Despite serious objections, the regulator gave its approval on Friday, and the chairman along with the other two members filed more than 12 pages of dissent or advisory commentary. Their objections centred on which projects were added or dropped and on bypassing the Council of Common Interests, the constitutional body for national energy policy.

The approval is conditional, leaving out battery energy storage systems and a KEL transmission line planned for 2028, and it remains subject to the regulator's observations being addressed. Under the reference case, the plan envisages 26,045MW of new capacity, with 2,577MW of current plant retired and installed capacity reaching 62,657MW. Added capacity is projected to cost $47.08bn, and transmission needs about $10.65bn, including $4.6bn for committed works.

For K-Electric, a 269MW JCM Wind-Solar Hybrid Project at Dhabeji, initially left out by ISMO, was later added for induction this fiscal year. Nepra did not permit the $900m battery storage outlay until a full technical and economic study is provided, and it ordered the consumer tariff impact to be quantified. According to PPMC, the consumer-end base tariff is projected to reach Rs37.28 per unit by 2035, up from Rs34 in 2024-25.