Pakistan to Focus on Cheaper Energy due to Expensive Energy Costs
The government of Pakistan is now focusing on cheaper energy alternatives, as the electricity prices are already too expensive and making Pakistani industries uncompetitive. A World Bank report says that Pakistan's energy costs are too high, which is making Pakistan's export sector and large-scale manufacturing sectors uncompetitive compared to cross-border countries. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has canceled all the power plant projects, which suggests that the end result will be expensive electricity. The prime minister of Pakistan suggested to the cabinet that now Pakistan should focus on dams and other cheap alternative solutions to Pakistan's expensive electricity issues. However, Pakistan's electricity is one of the most expensive in the region due to the mismanaged circular debt issue.
The government of Pakistan is trying to resolve the circular debt issue by dealing with the management of power plants. They are offering a win-win solution so that the maximum number of people utilize electricity. There is another issue: the commercial and residential sectors are now shifting towards solar panel solutions via net metering. This allows those people to sell electricity to WAPDA, and their electricity bill is reduced, or if it is negative, then WAPDA will be liable to pay them. Experts suggest that last year (2024), Pakistan imported a lot of solar panels, which is one of the top imports of solar panels globally. It suggests that the demand for solar panels is extremely high, and Pakistan's maximum number of people are importing them to avoid extremely high electricity bills issued by WAPDA. However, the government of Pakistan is in a catch-22 situation, where they are finding ways that people can utilize maximum electricity so that the circular debt issue can be tackled, as Pakistan is nearly 15-17 WM electricity idle.
