- Ismo has a workshop to open stakeholder dialogue.
- Reform aims to auctione 800 MW of demand for wheels.
- LEGHARI emphasizes CTBCM built on global best practice
Islamabad: Pakistan has launched consultations by stakeholders about the long -awaited competitive trading market (CTBCM), The news reported.
CTBCM is a power auction frame aimed at assigning 800 megawatt Wheeling demand and liberalizing the electricity sector.
Speaking at a workshop organized by the independent system and market operator (ISMO) on Friday, the federal minister of power department Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said that the initiative would reshape electricity trade, enabling industries to buy power directly from suppliers at competitive prices.
He emphasized that CTBCM was not an experiment, but a carefully designed reform based on international best practices.
“The auction framework is the cornerstone of the CTBCM implementation,” Leghari said in a virtual address. “It will not only reduce industrial costs, but also strengthen Pakistan’s competitiveness in export markets by ensuring access to clean and cost -effective energy.”
ISMO officials outlined the registration process for market participants, contract obligations and auction rules designed to ensure transparency and fair competition.
Stakeholders engaged regulators, power producers and consumer representatives in Q&A sessions and a panel discussion on the challenges of market design, Wheeling events and sustained integration.
Leghari declared the “service year to consumers 2025–26, which promised that the government would support ISMO and NEPRA in Operational CTBCM. Without reform, he warned, inefficiency would continue and consumers would continue to carry the cost of a stagnant system.
Officials said the consultation marked a turning point in Pakistan’s decades-delayed journey towards a transparent, modern electricity market.
By creating choices for industrial buyers and the opening room for new investments, CTBCM is placed as a cornerstone reform to stabilize prices and ensure reliable energy for the economy.
