KP govt awarded transmission, grid licence.

ISLAMABAD -- The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday granted a provincial grid licence to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Transmission and Grid System Company (Private) Limited (KPTandGSC).

The licence empowers the KPTandGSC - a subsidiary of the provincial government - to act as a provincial grid company under Section-18A of the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power Act, 1997.

KP is the second province after Sindh to have secured a provincial transmission or grid company. The KPTandGSC licence 'will facilitate in connecting the under construction as well as future proposed hydropower projects to the designated load centers, not only in the province, but will also help in transporting cheap electricity to national grid thus paving the way for development of the province as well as for the country,' Nepra said.

The regulator had conducted a public hearing on KP's request for a provincial grid licence on Feb 9. The Central Power Purchasing Agency and National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) had opposed the petition.

The provincial government had criticised NTDC of the federal government to have ignored provincial transmission lines to connect cheaper energy with the national grid and for failing to complete its own projects in time.

The KP government has been pushing for the transmission and grid system licence to ensure evacuation of about 7,300MW of its local power generation lined up through substantial public and private (local and foreign) investment. It also advocates that the provincial grid company would emerge as a support to the country's ailing power market and help stabilise the national grid in events like the recent countrywide power breakdown.

The provincial government has stated that various hydropower projects currently in different stages of implementation in KP would make available about 7,320MW of cheaper electricity over the next 10-15 years.

These plants...