Amid rising electricity bills, the cost of power generation in Pakistan registered a significant decline of over 25% in September 2023.

The power generation cost in September stood at an average of Rs7.42/KWh compared with an average cost of Rs9.91/KWh in the same period of the previous year, a decline of 25.1% YoY, said brokerage house Arif Habib Limited (AHL) on Friday.

“On a YoY basis, the decrease in fuel cost is witnessed mainly due to a decline in coal and re-gasified liquid natural gas (RLNG) based cost of generation along with 14% YoY rise in hydel-based generation,” said AHL.

On a monthly basis, the cost of power generation saw a decline of 10.3%, as compared to average cost of Rs8.27 in August.

However, despite the decline in the cost of power generation, the rising electricity bills have become a headache for the country’s populace, who are already feeling the pinch of high inflation and slow economic activity.

Meanwhile, power generation in the country clocked in at 13,339 GWh (18,526 MW) in September 2023, up 3.6% as compared to the same period last year.

Back in September 2022, power generation stood at 12,878 GWh (17,886 MW).

The year-on-year (YoY) increase in power generation comes on the back of local coal-based sources, which reached 1,479 GWh during September 2023, up by 155.6% YoY, said AHL.

Apart from local coal, the YoY increase was attributed to improved RLNG (16.8%), hydel (13.7%), and bagasse (2.9%).

However, on a monthly basis, power generation decreased by 16.4%, as compared to 15,959 GWh registered in August.

During 1QFY24, power generation also increased by 7.4% YoY to 44,138 GWh (19,990 MW) compared to 41,081 GWh (18,606 MW) during 1QFY23.

In September, hydel was the leading source of power generation, accounting for 37.6% of the generation mix, to become the largest source of electricity generation in the country. Followed by nuclear, which accounted for 17.1% of the overall generation, followed by RLNG which accounted for 16% of the power generation share.

Among renewables, wind, solar and bagasse generation amounted to 3.1%, 0.6% and 0.3% of the generation.