ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s industrial sector is paying almost double the electricity prices compared to China, India and the United States, and even higher than the European Union, adversely impacting its export competitiveness.

According to the latest ‘Electricity 2025 — Analysis & Forecast to 2027’ report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), the average 2024 electricity rates in the United States and India amounted to 6.3 cents each per kilowatt-hour (kWh), 7.7 cents in China, 4.7 cents in Norway and 11.5 cents in the European Union.

In comparison, average electricity prices for energy-intensive industries in Pakistan hovered around 13.5 cents per unit in 2024.

Although the report did not specifically report about Pakistan, as it was not a member of the IEA, it explained in detail the challenges faced by the European Union, where average electricity rates in 2024 at 11.5 cents were almost 18 per cent lower than in Pakistan. That could partly indicate difficulties faced by the Pakistani industries at home and in exporting products abroad.

IEA analysis says expensive electricity hurting export competitiveness

It said that Europe was facing de-industrialisation as high........

© Dawn Business