ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s electricity transmission system is facing severe structural and operational challenges that are significantly increasing power costs for consumers and weakening overall system efficiency according to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority. In a detailed assessment Nepra said the national grid suffers from a damaging combination of overloading and underutilisation that disrupts merit based power dispatch.

The regulator noted that the backbone of the transmission network including 500kV and 220kV lines remained largely overloaded at the close of the last fiscal year particularly during peak summer demand. Many grid stations and transformers are operating beyond safe capacity levels raising the risk of equipment failure voltage instability and outages across major regions.

Nepra revealed that in FY2025 116 out of 192 transformers across 68 grid stations were operating above 80 percent of their rated capacity. Overloading was most severe at the 500 and 220kV levels with major pressure points in Islamabad Lahore Hyderabad and Multan as well as key grids such as Gatti New Multan Muzaffargarh and Sheikhupura.

These persistent constraints have forced the system to rely on expensive power generation in violation of the economic merit order while cheaper and cleaner sources remain underutilised. Nepra said transmission bottlenecks have restricted full evacuation from major plants including the 1,300MW Sahiwal coal plant and nuclear facilities in Karachi resulting in higher generation costs.

The regulator highlighted the south to north transmission corridor as a critical weakness limiting the transfer of low cost electricity from coal nuclear and gas plants in the south to demand centres in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As a result the system increasingly depends on costly RLNG and furnace oil based generation in the north.

Nepra urged fast tracking of critical transmission projects upgrades of overloaded substations and modernisation of grid monitoring systems. It warned that unless long standing bottlenecks delays and cost overruns are addressed the efficiency reliability and affordability of electricity supply will continue to deteriorate placing an ever growing financial burden on consumers and the national economy.