ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has approved the design and implementation roadmap of Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM), being launched on the coming May 1, which would allow the consumers to purchase electricity on competitive basis from any power producer, Parliamentary Affairs State Minister Ali Muhammad Khan informed the Senate on Tuesday.
“The CTBCM is a complete framework which would initially provide the enabling mechanism for the sale by private generators and purchase of electric power by the bulk power consumer (consumer having more than one megawatt electric power connection),” the state minister read out a written reply on behalf of Energy Minister Hammad Azhar during question hour in the Senate sitting.
He was responding to a question by Mohsin Aziz from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — whether any proposal is under consideration to allow electricity generation and its transmission by private sector for the use of captive power through wheeling charges.
The state minister said the launch of CTBCM will mark the commencement of multi-buyer and seller market in Pakistan. The captive generation can also sell electric power in the CTBCM as per the approved framework, Khan said.
The NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) issued wheeling regulations 2016 which are presently in field, the written reply stated.
The applicable charges for wheeling were determined by NEPRA but the public sector distribution companies (Discos) filed a petition in a court against the determination due to the adverse financial impact to the end consumer, it added.
In the CTBCM, the applicable charges shall be provided as per the provisions of the National Electricity Policy, the reply stated.
In another written reply to another query by Aziz, the energy minister stated that Discos received 16,149 applications for the licences for net-metering and issued 12,918 licences in the last three years.
Water Resources Minister Moonis Elahi in written reply to a question by PTI’s Seemee Ezdi, stated, “India is constructing a number of run-of-river hydroelectric plants/dams (HEPs) on the western rivers. The designs of these plants are mostly in violation of the design criteria specified by the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, the reply said. During the year 2012, India provided the designs of four run-of-river hydroelectric plants: Pakal Dul (1000 MW), Ratle (850 MW), Lower Kalnai (45 MW) and Miyar (100 MW) on the Chenab river and its tributaries, it said. The designs of Kishenganga HEP (330 MW), located on a tributary of the Jhelum river, called Kishenganga in the Indian held territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and river Neelum on the downstream side of the line of control (LoC), was provided in the year 2006, the minister’s reply said.
All of these projects were evaluated as per treaty provisions and objections were accordingly conveyed to India, it added. Subsequently, these projects have been undertaken for resolution of objections at the level of Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) but the cases of Kishenganga HEP and Ratle HEP are pending resolution with the World Bank, the reply stated.
Meanwhile, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani announced that Senate would exclusively debate Kashmir issue in the coming Friday sitting (in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day) being observed on Saturday (February 5).
A Senate sitting on Kashmir issue would also be held in Muzaffarabad on the request of Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi, Sanjrani said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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