Pakistan’s new competitive electricity market could give large textile mills greater freedom to procure power, but network charges, reliability and contract economics will determine whether open access actually lowers industrial energy costs.
Pakistan’s textile industry is entering a critical phase of power-market reform as manufacturers assess whether the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market (CTBCM) can deliver electricity that is both reliable and internationally competitive. At a Faisalabad industry dialogue, textile, energy and sustainability stakeholders said market liberalisation must translate into commercially workable procurement rather than merely creating a new regulatory structure.
The numbers behind wheeling
NEPRA’s September 7, 2026 decision approved uniform Use of System Charges (UoSC) for consumers entering open access through the competitive wheeling-auction mechanism. The variable grid charge is Rs6.23/kWh for B-3 industrial consumers and Rs9.09/kWh for B-4, plus a fixed grid charge of Rs1/kW/month.
A further Distribution of Subsidy Surcharge of Rs3.23/kWh is already applicable to grid consumers. Including this takes the effective network-related cost cited at the Faisalabad dialogue to approximately Rs9.46/kWh for B-3 and Rs12.32/kWh for B-4, before the competitively purchased electricity itself is added.
The distinction becomes even more important outside the auction route. NEPRA approved UoSC including stranded costs of Rs19.17/kWh for B-3 and Rs25.45/kWh for B-4 for eligible users taking open access without participating in the competitive wheeling auction.
Choice does not automatically mean cheaper power
CTBCM is designed to allow bulk power consumers with loads of 1 MW or more to buy electricity from a competitive supplier instead of relying exclusively on their distribution company. NEPRA says the reform is intended to open Pakistan’s wholesale electricity market to supplier choice.
For textile mills, however, the commercial equation will depend on the generation price plus UoSC, surcharges, balancing requirements, security guarantees and network reliability.
Energy and export compliance converge
The Faisalabad dialogue also linked power procurement with decarbonisation and traceability. Participants identified energy efficiency, process optimisation and waste-heat recovery as the first steps, followed by renewable electricity, electrification and storage where commercially viable.
The next test is therefore implementation: whether competitive procurement can deliver sufficiently low all-in electricity costs—and enough predictability—to support investment by Pakistan’s export-oriented textile mills.
