ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Tuesday allowed Rs1.82 per unit increase in power tariff for all the power distribution companies, except K-Electric, lifeline consumers (who use less than 50 units [kwh] per month) and agricultural consumers, on account of fuel price adjustment for the month of September, 2019.
Earlier, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), on behalf of the power distributing companies (DISCOs), had asked the NEPRA to raise the electricity tariff by Rs2.97 per unit on account of fuel price adjustment, sources said.
The CPPA had pleaded with the NEPRA that variation in the fuel cost for electricity generation should be adjusted. Following the request, the power sector regulator had decided to hold a hearing on Oct 30; however for the first time in the history of the country, the regulator deferred the summary for the hearing till today.
The chairman of the regulator had sought an explanation from CPPA for out of merit running expensive power plants during September.
At a monthly public hearing on Oct 30, NEPRA Chairman Tauseef H. Farooqi said: “it would be a burden on our conscience if we pass on to consumers the entire expensive power generated on furnace oil,” when surplus capacity on cheaper fuels was available. The regulator directed the CPPA to provide justification along with evidence for generating expensive electricity on furnace oil.
It also called for plant-wise details of available capacity across the generation system and how the furnace oil-based plants made up to the economic merit order so that a fresh hearing could be conducted.
The CPPA, on behalf of ex-WAPDA distribution companies, maintained that it had charged consumers a reference tariff of Rs2. 8410/kWh against the actual fuel cost of Rs5.8136/kWh during the same month.
It said that the total energy from all sources remained at 13,621.35 GWH in September and the total cost was amounted to Rs70.231 billion with an average per unit fuel cost of Rs5.156 per unit.
The net electricity delivered to Discos stood at 13,225 GWh at cost of Rs76.886bn or 5.8136 per kWh. About 2.91pc losses were reported at transmission stage.
The regulator was told that the highest 37.09pc electricity was generated from hydel sources. Besides, 16.39pc was generated from Coal-fired power plants.
Around 21.06pc of electricity was generated from RLNG-based plants, and 11.85pc from natural gas, 6pc from furnance oil, 1.10pc from wind and 5.50pc from nuclear plants.
