What are the expected savings from solar electricity for Beco Steel?

Beco Steel, a small listed manufacturer of steel and engineering products based in Lahore, has joined the rush towards captive solar power – but with a twist. In a filing to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the company did not just announce a 5-megawatt (MW) solar installation. It also put numbers to the idea: once commissioned, the system is expected to generate about 600,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) a month and deliver monthly cost savings of roughly Rs16.8 million, or nearly Rs201 million a year. The company expects the installation (and related grid-side steps) to be completed in around four months, and notes it has applied for the requisite sanctioned load with LESCO.

That level of specificity is unusual in Pakistan’s corporate solar disclosures. Many listed firms have made similar announcements over the past two years – often framed as “reducing energy costs” or “improving sustainability” – but without a clear estimate of the rupee savings, the implied unit economics, or the expected payback. Beco’s numbers, by contrast, invite scrutiny.

They also allow a quick reverse-engineering of what management believes it is offsetting. If 600,000 kWh yields Rs16.8 million in savings, the implied avoided electricity cost is Rs28 per kWh (16.8m ÷ 600k). That lines up with the reality many industrial consumers face once you blend energy charges with the growing thicket of adjustments, surcharges, and fixed components that have become a feature – not a bug – of Pakistan’s power tariff regime.

The projection also hints at plant performance. A 5MW solar system generating 7.2 million kWh a year implies a capacity factor of roughly 16%, which is plausible for an industrial, behind-the-meter installation in Punjab (where dust, heat, and operational constraints can drag output below the best-case solar maps).

So far, so practical. But does it add up as an investment?