The United States has announced a $23 million electricity project in Pakistan

United States announced the commencement of a four-year, $23.5 million initiative in Pakistan to enhance the country’s electricity sector, despite objections from former PM Imran Khan.

Imran Khan has blamed the US of attempting to undermine the country’s administration.

He further alleged that the United States had supported opposition Partys to his removal from power through a no-confidence vote.

The US Power Project will increase the percentage of green energy in the country.

According to USAID Mission Director Julie A. Koenen, the initiative intends to enhance the percentage of green energy in Pakistan’s energy mix.

He stated that the United States is looking forward to expanding its relationship with Pakistan in order to establish a clean, effective, and dependable energy producing industry.

According to USAID Mission Director Julie A. Koenen, the new programme will cooperate with Pakistan to promote the transfer to a genuinely competitive wholesale electricity market.

Pakistan’s power industry is now confronted with a variety of difficulties, including rising electricity rates, electricity theft, and cyclical debt. All administrations in Pakistan are plagued by cyclical debt.

Previous governments have gone to great lengths to address electricity industry challenges. However, they had been unable to solve them.

Power distribution companies (Discos) are also grappling with a variety of power theft-related difficulties, which has resulted in cyclical debt.

Now almost 30% of energy is lost during the distribution process to customers.

There are several industries in Sindh, Baluchistan, and Kpk where failures were high and recovering was inadequate, causing problems throughout the energy chain.

During the previous PTI administration, the cyclical debt nearly doubled to Rs 2.5 trillion.

The PML-N administration had left it at Rs 1.6 trillion when the PTI government gained office in 2018.

The PTI administration paid IPPs roughly Rs 200 billion to engage into an agreement to cut electricity tariffs.

However, these power costs continued to rise as a result of inefficiencies being passed on to fair consumers who paid their bills on time.

Poor administration in Balochistan, Kpk, and Sindh provinces caused in increasing power loss and theft, which added considerably to the expanding cyclical debt.

Inefficiencies in the electrical industry had also produced issues in the petroleum and gas industry, which had a cyclical debt of over Rs 1.5 trillion.

Another fuel that contributed to the accumulation of circular loans in the petroleum and gas industries was LNG.

Currently, PSO was to get Rs 272 billion from SNGPL due to non-payment of dues for LNG delivery.

Mr. Shah Jahan Mirza, Managing Director of the Personal Energy Infrastructure Board, praised USAID for its great relationship, innovation, and long-term cooperation in assisting Pakistan’s transition to clean energy, and expressed his desire to continue the collaboration to enhance Pakistan’s power industry efficiency.