ISLAMABAD: Government is developing a virtual grid system allowing consumers to generate and store power, as the country prepares for a “battery revolution” to overhaul its struggling energy sector, Federal Minister for Energy Owais Leghari said on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media following a tense sitting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Power, Mr Leghari said that work on developing regulations for virtual grids was underway, and expected it to be finalised by the last quarter of the current fiscal year.
He said Discos have been directed to install grid batteries as part of efforts to improve the power system and promote energy storage.
“A battery revolution is coming to Pakistan,” Mr Leghari said, emphasising the government’s objective to increase battery usage in the country’s power sector.
The announcements followed a difficult committee meeting where the minister faced severe criticism, even from some of his own party colleagues.
During the sitting, Committee Chairman Muhammad Idrees pressed Mr Leghari on the issue of prolonged electricity load-shedding plaguing the country.
Mr Leghari acknowledged that loadshedding is currently carried out on around 3,500 of the country’s 14,500 feeders due to electricity theft and line losses.
He clarified there is no additional loadshedding, adding that other outages occur mainly due to technical faults caused by system overloading.
Within a year, the government will shift load-shedding controls from feeders to individual transformers so an entire feeder will not face shutdowns, he said. The government is introducing an on-off control system for around 190,000 transformers.
Consumers who regularly pay their electricity bills will not be affected by the new system, he said.
Mr Leghari added that upgrading the power system requires heavy investment, and approval from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) will be sought.
Regarding the energy situation, Mr Leghari said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has affected the Petroleum Division’s ability to receive LNG cargoes, forcing the government to use locally produced gas for power generation.
A gas cargo that previously cost around $30 million now costs more than $95m, making it necessary to take measures to reduce fuel costs, he explained.
“Who will bear an additional electricity bill of Rs6 to 6.50 per unit?” he asked regarding nighttime power cuts. “We carried out load-shedding during peak hours to save fuel costs.”
He also clarified the government had not signed any new agreement with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), calling media reports on the matter incorrect.
During one heated exchange, PML-N lawmaker Rana Muhammad Hayat argued that despite repeated promises, electricity prices had not come down.
“There is so much load-shedding that it has become difficult for us to go among the people,” Mr Hayat said.
While criticising Discos, he blamed policymakers for the crisis. “What can the Discos do, minister sahab? You switch off the electricity.”
Mr Hayat said government policies give the impression of working primarily to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirements rather than addressing citizens’ problems.
However, the minister took exception to this remark, calling it an “irresponsible statement at a responsible forum”, and challenging him to prove his claim.
Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2026
