Perhaps a generator can produce electricity somewhere with cheaper land and a better resource.
You contract with that generator.
The electricity enters the interconnected system.
The network transports the power.
You pay the appropriate grid and market charges.
The generator sells power.
You buy power.
The grid facilitates the transaction.
That, in simplified terms, is the direction competitive wheeling makes possible.
The government’s description of the reform is similarly significant: Energy Minister Awais Leghari said the government is moving away from directly procuring all electricity and toward a structure in which producers and qualifying consumers can transact directly. The Express Tribune
Whether implementation ultimately delivers that ambition will depend on market design, competition, network access, settlement, enforcement and economics.
But the direction matters.
“Free Wheeling” Does Not Mean Free Electricity Transmission
This terminology deserves clarification because it can easily be misunderstood.
Using the national grid is not free.
NEPRA has approved a Use of System Charges structure for bulk consumers participating through open access. Those consumers still have to contribute toward the infrastructure they use. The Express Tribune
The freedom is principally commercial.
Instead of being restricted to one electricity supplier under the traditional structure, eligible participants gain greater freedom to contract with generators or competitive suppliers.
The physical electricity remains constrained by physics.
Transmission capacity matters.
Distribution capacity matters.
Voltage matters.
Frequency matters.
Protection matters.
Congestion matters.
Losses matter.
Someone still has to balance the system every second.
That is why ISMO is important.
ISMO Is More Than a New Acronym
Pakistan’s electricity-sector alphabet soup is already difficult enough: WAPDA, NTDC, CPPA-G, DISCOs, NEPRA, NPCC, CTBCM—and now ISMO.
But the institutional change is meaningful.
NEPRA’s regulatory record shows the transition of system-operation and market-operation functions into the Independent System and Market Operator structure in 2025, following years of CTBCM development. NEPRA
Think of the distinction this way.
One question is:
Can this electricity physically move through the system without compromising reliability?
Another is:
