USAID Pakistan Power Sector Improvement Activity

The USAID-funded, NUMARK-primed Pakistan Power Sector Improvement Activity (PSIA) supports the Government of Pakistan’s (GoP’s) efforts to increase the financial viability, reliability, and affordability of the power system in Pakistan. PSIA has three overarching objectives: 1) increasing competition by supporting the development of Pakistan’s wholesale electricity market; 2) improving the management and operation of the electric transmission and distribution system; and 3) optimizing grid load. NUMARK’s implementation of PSIA is supported by Energy and Security Group and Hagler Bailly Pakistan.

Key Information:

Program Name: USAID Pakistan Power Sector Improvement Activity
Duration: September 2021-September 2025
Implementing Partner: NUMARK Associates, Inc.
Geographic Coverage: Pakistan
PSIA Chief of Party: Mr. Kashan Saeed

Through its various activities and sub-activities across all three objectives, PSIA will help Pakistan:

Develop fully functioning capabilities and necessary capacities before, during, and after the Competitive Trading Bilateral Contract Market’s (CTBCM’s) Commercial Operations Date (COD) for the operator to seamlessly perform its vital functions.
Institute market-mandated competitive procurement frameworks and reduced prices through competitive auctions for renewable energy (RE). Competition will be the principal driver for steering Pakistan away from its current increasing use of coal and towards clean energy.
Upgrade the technical and operational capacities of Pakistan’s transmission and distribution (T&D) sector entities to meet the demand of the expanding market and support digitization throughout the T&D sector.
Assist the newly established Energy Planning and Resource Center (EPRC) and National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) in adopting necessary modeling capabilities for the regular development and updating of Integrated Energy Plans (IEPs), Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plans (IGCEPs), and Transmission System Expansion Plans (TSEPs).
Support management and operational improvements at select distribution utility companies (DISCOs) in order to reduce commercial losses and improve revenues while enhancing customer service, power sector data security, and cyber resilience.
Reduce seasonal generation surpluses to help improve system utilization and increase the usage of electricity supplied by the grid for new applications such as accelerated electric vehicle (EV) adoption.
Improve and optimize the system utilization and economic performance by leveling demand-supply imbalances, reducing redundant-generation capacity and associated costs, and improving the RE dispatch.
Provide consumers with the ability to monitor their live power load, power consumption, and power quality data. PSIA has developed and rolled out an end consumer mobile application for MEPCO customers.

In addition to the activities above, PSIA also supports important cross-cutting activities. Notably:

Sponsored multiple cohorts of scholars of the Future of Women in Energy Scholars Program in collaboration with the U.S. Pakistan Women's Council. By providing educational and networking opportunities with industry leaders, the Women in Energy Scholars Program plays a crucial role in overcoming barriers to employment for women in the energy sector and empowers women to pursue careers in the traditionally male-dominated field.
Awarded a grant under contract (GUC) to the LUMS E-mobility R&D center. The primary goal of the grant to LUMS is supporting the advancement of locally designed electric vehicles (EVs) in order to promote their widespread use across public and private sectors in Pakistan.

To learn more about PSIA-supported activities, click here:

The contents of this webpage are the sole responsibility of NUMARK and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.