Karachi April 13 2023: Pakistan second largest province, Sindh, Cabinet has approved to establish the Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority (SEPRA) to improve energy equity and eliminate energy poverty in the province.
This was decided in a meeting of Sindh Cabinet which was chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at CM House here Wednesday.
Syed Murad Ali Shah termed the cabinet decision a historic step toward power generation, transmission, and distribution.
The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, advisors, special assistants, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi and other concerned officers.
Sindh Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh briefed the Cabinet that Sindh was blessed with an entire value chain of energy resources inter-alia coal, solar and wind, with cost-effective access through air, land and sea routes, which could be utilized for the generation of electricity, wheeled through the transmission network of Sindh Grid Company to meet the demand of household, commercial and industrial consumers of the province at affordable prices.
Imtiaz Shaikh said that the constraints faced by the provincial power projects, especially the renewable projects wind and solar development, within the national framework in terms of non-inclusion in the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan 2021 (IGCEP 2021), and lack of further processing by the concerned entities.
At this, the CM Sindh said that it was imperative that a holistic legal, policy and regulatory framework for generation, transmission, distribution and regulation was formulated so that energy equity was improved and energy poverty in the province could be eliminated.
The Cabinet was told that under Section (7)(4) of the NEPRA Act 1997, the provinces had been allowed to construct power houses and grid stations and lay transmission lines for use within the province and determine the tariff for the distribution of electricity within the province.
The Cabinet, after a thorough discussion, approved the establishment of the Sindh Electric Power Regulatory Authority.
