Experts urge shift of CPPs to grid

Energy experts have urged the government to facilitate the immediate transition of Captive Power Plants (CPPs) to the grid system. They emphasised that this measure would not only stimulate power demand in the country but also make significant amounts of natural gas available for the power sector, aligning with the National Gas Allocation Policy of 2005 and Gas Supply Priority by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in 2024. They also stressed the need for a thorough audit of CPPs to accurately assess their claimed efficiency levels. These recommendations were made during a session titled "Energy Priorities in Crisis: Navigating Gas Supply Cuts to Captive Power Plants in Pakistan," organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) on Thursday. The session aimed to analyse the government's commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to phase out gas supplies to CPPs, optimising energy resources. "Currently, there are an estimated 1,180 captive units in the country consuming approximately 358 MMCFD of natural gas, while there are 400,000 industrial consumers dependent upon the grid," said Wali Farooqui, Research Officer at IPS. He added that if industries with captive power plants transitioned to the grid, the benefits would be manifold, including reduced electricity prices due to natural gas reallocation, stimulation of national power demand to reduce capacity payments, and increased revenue for DISCOs, thereby easing the circular debt burden.