Why Pakistan is burning more coal for electricity

A record year for coal power

Coal produced a record 22% of Pakistan's electricity in the first nine months of the 2026 financial year, Energy Update reported in May. The reason was simple: there was not enough imported gas (RLNG) for the power stations that normally run on it.

Imported coal plants are running flat out

In September 2026, plants burning imported coal generated 2,155 GWh, more than twice as much as in September last year, ProPakistani reported on 19 October. They supplied about 16% of the country's power.

That power is not cheap. The fuel cost of a unit from imported coal was about Rs 17.2 in September, because world coal prices are high.

Local coal is the cheapest fuel on the grid

Plants burning local coal, mostly from Thar, made 1,327 GWh in September at a fuel cost of about Rs 6 a unit, around a third of the cost of imported coal power.

This is why the government is pushing to raise Thar output and to build a railway from the Thar mines, so more of the country's coal can come from inside Pakistan.

What it means for industry

Factories face the same choice as the power plants. Gas is short and expensive, imported coal costs more than it did, and local coal is the cheapest heat available.

That is why we are hearing from more textile mills, food factories and cement plants this autumn, alongside the brick kilns that have always burned Balochistan coal.