The average cost of fuel for power generation in January 2023 increased by 59 percent MoM to Rs. 11.2/KWh from Rs. 7.04/KWh in December 2022.
The nation’s power production decreased by 3.2 percent month over month (MoM) to 8,515 gigawatts per hour (GWh), while nuclear production increased by 48 percent year over year (YoY) in January 2023.
In contrast, the average cost of fuel for power generation in January 2023 increased by 59 percent MoM to Rs. 11.2/KWh from Rs. 7.04/KWh in December 2022.
In the first seven months of the fiscal year 2022–23, power generation decreased 7.3% year over year to 77,085 GWh from 83,193 GWh in the same period the previous year, according to data from Arif Habib Limited (AHL). Coal (share: 28.7%), nuclear (share: 22%), RLNG (share: 15.1%), gas (share: 13.5%), hydel (share: 9.4%), residual fuel oil (RFO) (share: 5.4%), wind (share: 3.4%), bagasse (share: 1.2%), and solar (share: 1.2%) were the major contributors in January 2023. (Share: 0.8 percent).
In January 2023, nearly 29 percent of electricity was produced using coal, down from 2,917 GWh in January 2022 to 2,444 GWh in January 2023, a 16.2 percent decline. On the other hand, coal generation is up 60.7 percent month over month. Its YoY decline for the 7MFY23 period is 21.8 percent.
In January 2023, nuclear power production increased by 48.3 percent year over year to 1,876 GWh from 1,265 GWh the previous month. According to a breakdown of the data by month, nuclear-based power output fell from 2,285 GWh in December 2022 to 1,876 GWh in January 2023, a decline of 18%.
From 626 GWh in January 2022 to 1,286 GWh in January 2023, RLNG-based power generation increased by 105.4 percent YoY. In January, RLNG-based power output increased from 1,154 GWh in December by 11.4 percent on a month over month basis.
From 1,238 GWh in January of last year, RFO-based power generation fell by 62.6 percent YoY to 463 GWh in January of this year, while monthly wind power generation increased by 35.8 percent from the 212 GWh recorded in January of last year.
From 47 GWh in January of last year to 72 GWh in January of this year, solar-based generation has increased by 55% YoY. It increased by 33.1 percent YoY to 526 GWh in 7MFY23 from 395 GWh in 7MFY22.
Fuel costs for power generation dropped by 8.3% YoY in January 2023 to Rs. 11.2/KWh from an average of Rs. 12.22/KWh the previous year. With an average cost of Rs. 9.36 per KWh for 7MFY23 compared to Rs. 7.68 per KWh for 7MFY22, fuel prices are up 22% year over year.
RFO-based power is the most expensive fuel among all metrics after rising 12.3 percent MoM to Rs. 28.98 per unit.