Choking growth
Pakistan has reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF, meaning the economy gets to stay afloat for another six months. However, behind the superficial macroeconomic stability is only economic stagnation…
Who truly own the IPPs?
The Pakistan power system is ever in the news – unfortunately, always in the negative sense. The power tariffs are backbreaking while the service to the power consumers has plummeted…
Incentivising consumption
Pakistan has surplus power capacity, capacity costs of which are paid by all electricity consumers. Such capacity may be deemed as surplus due to successive years of low-growth, but it…
ISMO: A game-changer for Pakistan’s electricity market?
In a significant step toward reforming Pakistan’s power sector, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) recently approved the formation of the Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO). This move is…
Victimising local IPP sponsors risks scaring future investment
The first round of IPP negotiations has concluded, resulting in the termination of five contracts through coercive measures—though labeled as mutually agreed upon. This approach has demonized investors and stigmatized…
Why power-sector reforms fail
Pakistan’s power sector has long been a tale of reforms that promise much but deliver little. Despite decades of policy interventions aimed at boosting energy generation, reducing losses, and reforming…
Electricity market stuck in limbo
Pakistan’s electricity sector reform has been a topic of discussion for over three decades, with the ambition to transition from a monopoly-based single-buyer model to a competitive multi-buyer, multi-seller market.…
Power sector woes– AGP report says it all
A damming report by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) says it all insofar as the massive mess-up in the domestic power sector, the consequences of which are being borne…
IPPs: missing the forest for the trees
The 2024 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) negotiations are entering their second round. The authorities are employing game theory strategies, but this round is being conducted under different terms compared to…
The chaos in the power sector: Part – I
There is a reason the power sector puzzle, which has drained the economy and harmed citizens, has stayed unsolved. It is because no one wants to fix it. The issue…
