KARACHI: The cost of fuel for electricity generation in January increased 101.5 per cent to Rs12.22 per unit on a year-on-year basis, according to data released by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority on Saturday.

The increase in the fuel cost, which is one of the three components of the final rate that power producers charge their government-backed buyer, was 48.3pc on a month-on-month basis.

The sharp increase was because of a rise in furnace oil, high-speed diesel (HSD), coal and re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG)–based cost of generation, according to Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Ltd.

The four of the 11 fuel sources contributed 61.1pc to the generation mix versus a collective share of 55.7pc a year ago.

Total power generation stood at 8,797 gigawatt hours (11,824 megawatts) in January, up 8.9pc from the same month of last year. On a month-on-month basis, however, power generation registered a slight drop of 0.3pc.

The largest contributor to the power mix in January was coal (33.2pc), up 9.4 percentage points from the preceding month. Both nuclear and gas were the second largest contributors to the power mix with a share of 14.4pc each. Their respective shares were 17.5pc and 13.8pc, respectively, in December 2021.

HSD–based plants produced 592GWh of electricity last month, up almost 1,200pc from a year ago. The jump in HSD-generated units is in response to a 31.7pc dip in RLNG-based production as gas prices surged in international markets. In addition, production from hydel-based plants also dropped almost 52pc in January on a year-on-year basis.

Nuclear power witnessed the second highest yearly jump (48.3pc) in terms of units generated in January following the commissioning of a 1,100MW plant in May 2021.

The country recorded its highest-ever power generation of 136,572GWh in the last calendar year, up 10.6pc from 2020. As for the last fiscal year, electricity generation went up 7pc while the economy grew 5.4pc.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2022