KP govt to provide cheap electricity to industries

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said speedy development and promotion of industries in the province is the top priority of the provincial government.

Through the wheeling arrangement, the profitability of PEDO will be increased because at present according to the NEPRA tariff of Rs. 4.01 per KWh PEDO’s earnings will be Rs 162 million, whereas in the wheeling to industrial consumers, the sale of power rate is Rs. 7.5514/kWh, which will increase the revenue of PEDO to Rs 306 million per annum.

It is pertinent to mention here that the KP cabinet in its earlier meeting approved the wheeling of power to all industries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PEDO BoD also approved the wheeling arrangement in its 36th meeting for Pehur HPP through wheeling arrangement with the successful bidders.

Addressing the signing ceremony, the chief minister stated, “We are successfully pursuing our goals in line with the priorities of the energy sector.”

He said up to 74 MW electricity produced by the provincial government through its resources has already been included in the national grid that will generate Rs. 1.9 billion annually for the province.

“Now the provincial government has initiated wheeling regime model to provide cheap electricity to local industries that is undoubtedly a pragmatic step towards accelerated development of the industrial sector,” Mahmood Khan said.

Wheeling regime-Energy Purchase Agreement was signed between PEDO Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and five industrial consumers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that included Gadoon Textile Swabi, AJ Textile Swabi, Premier Chip Board Peshawar, Cherat Packages Swabi and Cherat Cement Nowshera, said an official handout.

The chief minister termed this agreement as a milestone for the development of the industrial sector in the province.

He said it was the long-standing demand of the industrialists that we have fulfilled.

He said after the successful implementation of the PEHUR wheeling regime, other hydro projects would also be considered for the wheeling to provide affordable electricity as compared to CPPA-G to the industrial consumers.