CM For Providing Relief To Low-income Electricity Consumers In Sindh

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the ever-increasing electricity bills have created unrest among the people because of their inability to afford, therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the government to steer the people out of this dilemma

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Jul, 2024) Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the ever-increasing electricity bills have created unrest among the people because of their inability to afford, therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the government to steer the people out of this dilemma. 

He said we can assist poor people by offering them solar panels or a minimum of 100 units for free, as per the directive of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

This he said while presiding over a meeting to firm up proposals for solarisation of the off-grid and on-grid low-income families here at the CM House.

The meeting was held at CM House and was attended by Minister Energy Syed Nasir Shah, Minister of Agriculture Mohammad Bux Khan Mahar, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Secretary of Energy Musadiq Khan, PSCM Agha Wasif, Chairman P&D Najam Shah, and other concerned officers. 

Minister Energy Nasir Shah briefing the CM on the Benazir Solar program said that the survey of low-income families using 100 units per month comes to 1,976,500, including 1,054,000 of KE, 566,427 HESCO and 356,073 SEPCO.  

The CM was told that there were 2.

6 million off-grid households in Sindh. At this, the CM said that 500,000 households (off-gird) may be provided Solar Home Systems (SHS) by providing them 100W panels with the capacity of three LED bulbs, 35W DC fan and six-hour Battery backup and mobile charging ports.

To a question, Nasir Shah told the CM that each SMS would cost Rs55,000 if purchased in bulk. Another proposal Mr Energy Nasir Shah submitted to the CM was for microgrids.

He said six micro-grids, each one of 75kW, may be established at the Divisional level to cover a cluster of 100 households. Those grids would provide 100kWH units per month. 

The Energy Minister said that each grid would cost around Rs30 million. The CM directed the minister to get the feasibility study of the grid stations. 

The CM was told that around 300 land was required for a grid station at Sukkur for grid station, 230 acres in Hyderabad and 270 acres in K-Electric. The third proposal, the minister presented was the establishment of three solar parks each one with a cumulative capacity of 350 MW. These solar parks could be established in PPP mode.