Nepra okays $58bn 11-year power plan amid reservations

ISLAMABAD: In a controversial decision, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday approved the contentious Integrated System Plan (ISP) 2025, entailing a total investment of about $58 billion in the power generation and transmission sectors over 11 years. In a 45-page decision conditionally approving the 11-year (2025-35) planning document, all three members, including the Nepra chairman, wrote more than 12 pages of dissenting or separate advisory notes while questioning the grounds for the exclusion and inclusion of major projects and bypassing the Council of Common Interests (CCI) — the constitutional forum dealing with such matters, including the national energy policy and plan.

“The Authority hereby approves the ISP-2025, to the extent of Revised Base/Recommended Case of IGCEP-2025 (excluding Battery Energy Storage System-BESS and K-Electric Ltd-KEL transmission line in 2028) together with the revised scope of Transmission System Expansion Plan (TSEP-2025), subject to redressal of the observations of the Authority,” the Nepra decision said. It also placed on record contradictory statements by two related organisations — the Independent System and Market Operator (ISMO) and Power Planning and Monitoring Company (PPMC) — under the power division. Members question project changes, CCI bypass Nepra also expressed displeasure over changes to the 10-year investment plan on the advice of a technical committee constituted by the power division, noting that changes to the National Electricity Policy or National Electricity Plan could not be dictated by a technical committee or the power division without going back to the CCI. Nepra noted that ISP-2025 superseded earlier Integrated Generation Cap­acity Exp­ansion Plans and considered three principal…