Amid provincial concerns, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) on Thursday approved the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) 2021-30 with the focus on pursuing renewable and nuclear energy projects.
A meeting of the CCoC, presided over by Planning Minister Asad Umar prevailed over the agitating provincial representatives while approving the IGCEP for submission to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) with the promise that the provinces’ projects currently under implementation would be completed as per the commitments.
The power division put on record that if projects being pushed by the provincial governments, particularly Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Strategic Plan Division (SPD) were included in the 10-year plan, the federal exchequer would have to bear an additional burden of Rs1.353 trillion and electricity tariff would have to be increased by about Rs1.30 per unit.
It was, therefore, agreed with consensus to follow “the principle of least cost based capacity addition” as originally advocated by the National Transmission and Dispatch Company and consented to by the federal cabinet in April this year. “Such planning will target optimum future capacity addition at the most affordable cost, ensuring the cheapest electricity for consumers”, an official statement said.
