Nepra renews K-Electric’s licence for six months

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday provisionally renewed K-Electric’s (KE) distribution licence for six months.

The electric utility company, in a statement, said that K-Electric has been informed about the decision regarding the extension.

“The 20-year licence period of the K-Electric is ending today and the renewal of the licence will be decided after a public hearing,” said Nepra.

Nepra also said that the power supplying company had applied for a 20-year renewal of the licence, however, it has been given a provisional extension of six months.

In February, KE CEO Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi said that the company had applied for a non-exclusive distribution licence after its current distribution exclusivity was going to end in June this year.

The request for power distribution unbundling will end KE’s monopoly in Karachi and may attract other market players to invest.

“KE itself wanted to operate in a competitive environment along with other power sector market players, rather than having monopolistic distribution licence,” Alvi had said.

He was of the view that Pakistan has to shift towards indigenous sources of power production in future.

“We must ensure that the next generation is transitioned to indigenous fuel as it is not in our interest to buy expensive fuel, for which all partners must contribute.

Before the summer of 2023, he continued, KE would have 900 megawatts of electricity available by way of billions of rupees investment.

E&P Companies Will Invest $5 Billion in Pakistan’s Petroleum Industry

Published

11 hours ago

Farwa

Over the next three years, local and foreign companies involved in Pakistan’s oil and gas exploration and production sector have shown a strong desire to invest more than $5 billion in the nation’s energy sector.

Recent changes to the Petroleum Policy and the implementation of an exclusive tight gas policy, which provide better incentives and a more investor-friendly regulatory framework, are credited with the increase in investor confidence.

These strategic changes are expected to boost domestic energy production, open up new avenues for growth, and draw large amounts of both domestic and foreign investment.

Business

With inflation slowing, the SBP is anticipated to lower the policy rate for the eighth time in a row.

Published

12 hours ago

Farwa

Businesspeople anticipate another reduction in the policy rate when the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) releases the updated rate.

The interest rate for the upcoming two months will be announced by the central bank. It is still unclear if the rate will stay the same or be lowered to reflect stakeholder expectations.

According to experts, the policy rate will be lowered in order to further boost the nation’s economic sector.

Interest rates may be lowered for the seventh time in a row if the inflation rate declines significantly more than anticipated.

In its last six sessions, the MPC had cut the policy rate by 10 percent. In January 2025, it decreased the rate by one percent to 12pc.

12PC POLICY RATE

In January, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced cut in key policy rate by 100 basis points (bps) to 12 percent from 13pc in line with expectations of the business community.

The policy rate, which had been at 22 percent since June 2024, was slashed by 1,000 basis points to 12 percent.

The SBP governor said the decision was taken with careful consideration. “Although inflation is expected to decline next month (February), core inflation remains a pressing concern,” he stated.

Ahmed highlighted strong remittance inflows and robust export growth as key factors supporting the current account.