Islamabad: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority is set to allow power distribution companies (Discos) and K-Electric to transfer the burden of Rs 42 billion to the electricity consumers on account of fuel charge adjustments for March.
In a public hearing on tariff petitions of Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee Limited (CPPA-G) and KE, NEPRA has hinted at an increase of Rs 2.87/unit and Rs 4.83/unit in tariff, respectively for Discos and KE. National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has conducted a public hearing on petitions of CPPA and KE for a power tariff increase on account of the monthly FCA for March. The hearing presided over by Tauseef H Farooqui also discussed the electricity shortage and excessive load-shedding in the country. Chairman NEPRA asked Power Division why fuel is not arranged for thermal power plants. A representative of NPCC informed that the temperature was abnormally increased, which has resulted in increasing the electricity demand. Vice-Chairman NEPRA Rafique Shaikh asked NPCC why they don’t have an advanced weather forecast. An official of the NPCC said that the metrological department is not providing an accurate prediction. Chairman NEPRA noted what kind of reply is this? We didn’t live in 1970. He asked NPCC and CPPA to improve the electricity supply.
In its petition, on behalf of Discos, the Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee Limited (CPPA-G) had sought an increase of Rs3.1573/unit in electricity tariff on account of monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for March 2022. The CPPA-G further said the total energy generated during March increased to 10418 GWh from 8087 Gigawatt hours (GWh) in February. The entire generation cost in March was Rs 96.032b. The generation cost per unit of energy was Rs 9.2176/unit. According to the CCPA-G data, net electricity delivered to Discos was 10,078.73 GWh at Rs 94.608bn or Rs 9.3869/unit.
However, according to the NEPRA calculation, the tariff increase could be Rs 2.86/unit. The impact on the power consumers will be around Rs 33b (Rs 28.9b for fuel components and around Rs 4b for GST). According to a petition submitted to NEPRA, on behalf of power distribution companies (XWDISOCs), the CPPA-G said that the reference fuel charges from the consumers were Rs for March 6.2295/unit while the actual fuel cost was Rs 9.3869/unit. Therefore it should be allowed to pass the increase of Rs 3.1574/department to the consumers. According to the CPPA-G petition, transmission losses were high in March and stood at 2.94pc. IN MARCH, the CPPA said that the hydel power generation contributed 1703.91 GWh or 16.35 to the national grid. The share of coal in power generation was 2586.62GWh or 24.83pc. The cost of coal generation was Rs 12.4116/unit in March. During March, the electricity generated from furnace oil increased to 1106.19 GWh 10.65pc from 526.73 GWh or 6.51pc in February. The cost of RFO-based electricity was Rs 22.5214/unit. In March, electricity generation from gas-based power plants increased to 992.72GWh from 918.40GWh during the previous month. The cost of gas-based electricity was Rs 7.7872/unit. RLNG-based age had further increased to 1965.68GWh in March from 1226.01 GWh in February. The cost of the RNLNG-based electricity is Rs 14.3677/unit. The generation from nuclear power plants was 1563.66GWh in or 15.01pc in March, at Rs 1.0335/unit. Electricity imported from Iran was 42.75GWh in March. The cost of Iranian electricity was Rs 17.3565/unit. In March, the power generation from bagasse contributed 107.01GWh at Rs 5.9822/unit. The power generation from different sources (mixed) was 13.22GWh at Rs 4.8339/unit, while the wind was recorded at 267.92 GWh or 2.57pc, and solar generation was 68.73GWh. Nepra will hold a public hearing on the CPPA-G petition on April 27, 2022.
In its petition, K-Electric had sought an increase of Rs 5.27/unit in power tariff on fuel charges adjustments for March. The NEPRA official informed that KE didn’t run some of the efficient power plants as per its capacity. After going through the data, it has been observed by the NEPRA officials that the increase will be around Rs 4.83/unit. The KE increase and GST’s impact will be around Rs 9b.NEPRA has reserved the judgment and will announce the final decision later.