Pakistan textile mills seek winter gas levy relief

December 17, 2025 (MLN): Pakistan's textile manufacturing sector has formally requested a temporary waiver on gas levies for captive power generation to navigate what industry leaders describe as critical winter energy challenges.

These challenges are threatening production capacity and export commitments.

The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has petitioned authorities for a two-month exemption from the levy on gas used for captive power generation, covering December 1, 2025, through January 31, 2026.

The request aims to enable textile mills to maintain operations using their gas-based backup power plants during a period of anticipated grid instability.

According to the formal request, the waiver would help preserve industrial productivity and employment continuity while protecting critical export commitments during the winter months when Pakistan's power infrastructure faces heightened stress.

Pakistan's electricity grid experiences systematic reliability issues during winter months, with industrial facilities bearing disproportionate impacts.

The APTMA document outlines several operational challenges affecting textile production, including voltage excursions, nuisance tripping, repeated service interruptions, and extended restoration periods following electrical faults.

These power quality issues reportedly disrupt sensitive manufacturing equipment such as variable speed drives, control systems, and continuous process machinery used in textile operations.

Industry representatives warn that such disruptions increase the risk of forced production shutdowns and generate significant restart losses, including material waste and thermal stress on equipment.

The association identifies multiple technical factors contributing to seasonal grid challenges.

Winter operations combine low electrical loads with reactive power control deficits, creating voltage management complications.

Lightly loaded transmission lines experience the Ferranti effect, which elevates overvoltage risks on long extra-high-voltage corridors.

Infrastructure shortfalls in shunt reactors and dynamic reactive power support systems such as Static Var Compensators (SVC), STATCOM units, and synchronous condensers reportedly force operational workarounds including line switching and network topology changes.

These actions reduce system security margins and can transform routine disturbances into protection-driven cascading failures.

High solar photovoltaic penetration combined with seasonal hydropower decline represents another significant factor.

Increasing solar generation creates intraday ramping requirements and balancing challenges that demand greater frequency regulation and voltage support capabilities from the grid.

Pakistan's hydropower infrastructure, including storage reservoirs and run-of-river installations, provides operational flexibility during high water flow periods.

However, reduced winter inflows constrain hydropower output and overall system support capacity, weakening the grid's ability to manage variability and recover from disturbances.

Seasonal fuel allocation priorities further complicate the situation. During winter, natural gas supplies are prioritized for residential heating demands, reducing availability for grid-based gas and regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) power plants.

This constraint diminishes the dispatchable generation flexibility available to grid operators for responding to system events.

For Pakistan's export-oriented textile sector, production disruptions carry immediate financial consequences.

Extended outages or poor power quality can result in missed delivery schedules for international orders, potentially affecting foreign exchange earnings and competitive market positioning.

The textile industry represents a significant component of Pakistan's export economy, making operational continuity during winter months strategically important for maintaining international buyer relationships and employment levels across the manufacturing sector.

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