• Minister says attempts for concessions in form of debt-reprofiling have not materialised
• Neelum-Jhelum repairs to take another year-and-a-half
• Leghari claims solar capacity will ‘more than double in 10 years’
• Downplays Khawaja Asif’s remarks on corruption in power sector

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has not been able to secure discounts from Chinese power producers, unlike the over Rs3.5 trillion in savings extended by other independent power producers (IPPs) and public sector plants after the restructuring of power purchase agreements.

“A sufficient outcome has not come out yet,” Power Minister Sardar Awais Khan Leghari told a news conference on Sunday when asked about the progress in talks with IPPs set up under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) for tariff rationalisation.

The minister said the CPEC IPPs had been set up under a framework under which “we have been trying for concessions in the form of debt-reprofiling, but sufficient results have not materialised yet”.

He said the revisit could only take place while remaining within the government-to-government arrangement, as both governments had provided enough guarantees.

“We also have to respect investments that flowed in when no investor was ready to look towards Pakistan,” he said, hoping that “an agreement would be reached towards an improvement”.

He recalled that renegotiations with IPPs, the restructuring of agreements, and the closure of old plants had helped secure Rs3.5tr in lifetime savings, under which the last IPP’s agreement is to expire in 2053.

He said the reduction in system losses, the transfer of old-Genco staff to distribution companies, and the use of fiscal space for the reduction of circular debt helped cut the power sector’s budgeted subsidy to Rs890bn this year from Rs1.287tr last year, and it would be further reduced to Rs830bn in the coming fiscal year.

In response to a question, the power minister said the Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project had been out of the system for about a year and a half because the project had design flaws, which had been established after probes ordered by the prime minister. He said Wapda would take another year and a half or so to repair the over Rs500bn project.

In addition, a Rs250bn burden on industrial consumers was removed by ending the cross-subsidy. As a result, electricity tariffs fell across all consumer categories over the past two years.

Giving a chart from his own ministry, the minister said the average domestic power tariff dropped by 16pc between May 2024 and May 2026, while commercial rates fell by 8pc. The biggest relief flowed to the industrial sector, whose average tariff dropped by 33pc, while that of general services, bulk consumers, and the agriculture sector tariff came down by 10pc, 13pc, and 14pc respectively.

The national average tariff was reduced by 20pc to Rs42.26 per unit in May 2026 when compared to Rs53.04 per unit exactly two years back.

In response to a question on rising fixed charges in electricity bills, the minister said that power supply involved around 75pc capacity charges, and while the government had started passing only 10pc of the charges to consumers, this should go up if the per-unit rate was to be reduced.

The minister said a ‘fake campaign’ had been going on for weeks regarding reports that the government was removing subsidies for low-income consumers.

He said it was totally false, as the government had introduced a campaign through bills for the registration of eligible consumers for the subsidy, given the penetration of alternate energy sources causing a low intake from the national grid.

He said the eligibility criteria for the subsidy will be determined through public consultations, and “verified eligible consumers will continue receiving their subsidy without interruption”, as a subsidy from the budget or a cross-subsidy from other middle-class consumers could not be provided to those artificially keeping consumption below 200 units.

He said the government has banned public sector power purchases by law, except for ongoing hydropower plants under implementation with about 9,000MW and about 1,200MW of nuclear power.

The minister said solar self-generation capacity was estimated to expand to 50,000MW in 10 years from less than 20,000MW at present, despite the shift from the net-metering mechanism to net-billing, because this remained a viable and practical thing for times to come.

Corruption in power sector

The minister also tried to give a positive spin to the corruption allegations by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and reported strict action against the accused line superintendent, but was flabbergasted when reminded that almost all common people were forced to go along with “corrupt practices” for the repair and maintenance of their respective transformers and other equipment.

“This is absurd and totally wrong to say that everybody goes through this,” he retorted, while claiming that corruption was “no more than 10-15pc” in the power sector.

Commenting on the Mr Asif’s allegation, Mr Leghari said his “tweet is a source of pride for us as we believe in self-accountability. Strict action has been taken against the relevant line superintendent”.

“This is a part of our self-accountability. It’s the public representative’s job to highlight people’s problems… Even if anyone raises questions from within our cabinet, we address them publicly and will continue trying to improve our performance in the future,” he said, adding that 76pc of complaints were now being resolved within the mandatory response time and 24pc went beyond time limits.

In an X post on Saturday, Mr Asif had said that he had sought a former official’s help for the repair of a transformer in the village of his domestic employee. “[Lesco] employees took Rs80,000 to repair the transformer. The villager collected donations to pay the Lesco employees, but they were not given a receipt. You can imagine about others. This happens even when a former power minister, who is currently a cabinet member, intervenes. What are common consumers going through?”

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2026