LAHORE – The United States Mission to Pakistan today officially handed over an innovative new metering system to the Government of Pakistan to help network and market operators better manage the national power grid.
The Secure Metering System (SMS), developed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), improves Pakistan’s National Transmission and Despatch Company’s (NTDC) ability to forecast power requirements across the country.
It empowers Pakistan’s Central Power Purchasing Agency, Guarantee Ltd. (CPPA-G), to set up an efficient, transparent, and trustworthy billing system for private investors.
Eventually, this will also enable the Government of Pakistan to purchase electricity at competitive rates from private companies and sell it to consumers at affordable rates.
“The launch of this system is an important milestone for the NTDC and the CPPA-G,” said USAID Mission Director Julie Koenen.
“This initiative facilitates the digitalization of Pakistan’s power sector and will help the government achieve its vision to start a wholesale electricity market, which will help reduce electricity prices for consumers, and provide incentives for businesses and industry to expand their operations”, she added.
“NTDC is committed to improving its operations, and SMS will take our forecasting, data collection, and power management operations to the next level,” said NDTC Managing Director Dr. Khawaja Riffat Hassan.
In addition to the hand-over, the event also featured a graduation ceremony for 21 energy professionals of CPPA-G and NTDC who successfully progressed from basic to advanced training.
The handover ceremony was organized by USAID’s Sustainable Energy for Pakistan (SEP) Project, a four-year technical assistance initiative.
Through SEP, USAID is supporting the Pakistani government’s efforts to deliver financially sustainable energy services to the people of Pakistan.
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