The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), which is the power regulatory body of Pakistan, has exposed Chinese coal-fired power plants to using lower-quality imported coal.

According to reports, the plants had pledged to use coal with a calorific value of 6000 (CVs).

Not a single imported consignment meets the required standards and still they claim multi-billion rupees of capacity payments that are being collected from the public, reports The News International.

This revelation came to light during a public hearing conducted by Nepra on Thursday to review the existing mechanism, last revised in 2016, the newspaper reported.

Nepra Chairman Waseem Mukhtar headed the proceedings while the authority’s members including Mathar Niaz Rana (member Balochistan), Maqsood Anwar Khan (KP), Amina Ahmed (Punjab), and Rafique Ahmad Shaikh (Sindh) were in the presence.

It is important to mention that the coal-based current derated installed capacity is 6,777MW (foreign-funded on imported coal), with an outstanding capacity payment of a substantial Rs643 billion.

While citing documents, a Nepra member was quoted as saying by The News International, “Your documents say that you imported lower quality coal against what was promised in the agreements.”

Notably, the Sahiwal Coal Power Project, now known as Huaneng Shandong Ruyi (Pakistan) Energy (Limited), disclosed that it had imported multi-thousand tons of coal in July 2022 when prices were high, at a rate of Rs70000/ton ($380).

However, in response, the Nepra member said, "You claim capacity payment, but you don’t use costly coal.”