Overview
- The Power Division, in meetings led by Federal Minister Awais Leghari, reviewed coal supply contracts for Pakistan’s roughly 5,280 MW of coal-fired capacity and found large procurement gaps that increase consumer bills.
- The review found the same international suppliers offered widely different discounts to different plants, with reported discounts ranging from USD 0.25 to USD 7.12 per metric ton.
- As a first-phase reform the ministry has formally told NEPRA to apply a ‘best available discount’ rule that requires plants to take deliveries from their contracted supplier offering the highest discount against the API-4 benchmark.
- The Power Division says full compliance could save about Rs380 million a year without extra investment, though actual savings depend on contract flexibility, delivery logistics and regulatory enforcement.
- Industry representatives have questioned the approach and urged alternative procurement methods such as government-run bidding, so oversight, legal adjustments and monitoring arrangements are now the next steps to watch.