Pakistan is preparing new rules that will let households and businesses produce their own electricity and store it for later use. Federal Energy Minister Awais Leghari said the government is developing a virtual grid system as part of a wider push to expand battery storage across the power sector.
Work on the regulations has already started. Officials expect to finish them by the final quarter of the current financial year. At the same time, power distribution companies have been ordered to install batteries at grid stations. Leghari described the coming changes as a “battery revolution” that will make the electricity system more flexible and reliable.
The plans were shared after a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Power. Lawmakers raised concerns about ongoing load-shedding and high electricity prices. The minister said outages currently affect about 3,500 of the country’s 14,500 electricity feeders, mainly because of theft and technical losses.
To improve fairness, the government aims to move load-shedding control from whole feeders to individual transformers within a year. An on-off system is being prepared for around 190,000 transformers so that paying consumers are less likely to face cuts.
Approval from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority will be needed for the required investment.