AHSAN GARDEZI
Power generation in the country went down by 3.2 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis to 8,515 gigawatts per hour (GWh) in January 2023, while nuclear generation was up 48 percent year-on-year (YoY). Meanwhile, during January 2023, fuel costs for power generation increased by 59 percent MoM to an average of Rs. 11.2/KWh, compared to an average cost of Rs. 7.04/KWh in December 2022.
According to data by Arif Habib Limited (AHL), power generation was down 7.3 percent YoY to 77,085 GWh during the first seven months of the financial year 2022-23, compared to 83,193 GWh in the same period last year. Major contributors during January 2023 were coal (share: 28.7 percent), nuclear (share: 22 percent), RLNG (share: 15.1 percent), gas (share: 13.5 percent), hydel (share: 9.4 percent), Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) (share: 5.4 percent), wind (share: 3.4 percent), Bagasse (share: 1.2 percent), and solar (share: 0.8 percent). Coal power generation accounted for almost 29 percent of electricity output in January 2023, indicating a 16.2 percent drop from 2,917 GWh in January 2022 to 2,444 GWh in January 2023. Conversely, on an MoM basis, coal generation is up 60.7 percent. For the period 7MFY23, it is down 21.8 percent YoY.
Nuclear-based power generation increased by 48.3 percent YoY to 1,876 GWh in January 2023 from 1,265 GWh last year. A month-wise breakdown of the data reveals that nuclear-based power output declined by 18 percent in January 2023 (1,876 GWh) from 2,285 GWh in December 2022. RLNG-based power generation increased by 105.4 percent YoY to 1,286 GWh in January 2023 from 626 GWh last year. On an MoM basis, RLNG-based power output increased by 11.4 percent in January from 1,154 GWh in December.
RFO-based power generation plummeted by 62.6 percent YoY to 463 GWh in January, down from 1,238 GWh last year, while monthly wind power generation shows an increase of 35.8 percent from 212 GWh observed last month. As of January, solar-based generation is up 55 percent YoY from 47 GWh last year to 72 GWh today. During 7MFY23, it surged by 33.1 percent YoY to 526 GWh from 395 GWh in 7MFY22.
Fuel costs
During January 2023, fuel costs for power generation decreased by 8.3 percent YoY to Rs. 11.2/KWh, compared to an average cost of Rs. 12.22/KWh last year. For 7MFY23, fuel costs are up 22 percent YoY with an average cost of Rs. 9.36/KWh, compared to Rs. 7.68/KWh in 7MFY22. The cost of RFO-based power increased by 12.3 percent MoM to Rs. 28.98 per unit, making it the priciest fuel among all metrics.
