KARACHI: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has allowed K-Electric a hefty increase of around Rs4.8 per unit in power tariff on account of quarterly tariff adjustment as consumers and the government will be paying extra Rs106 billion.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Nepra said the authority, based on the information, data and record provided by K-Electric, approved the quarterly adjustment claims of the power utility for the period Jul-Sept 2016 to Jan-Mar 2019. With the tariff revision, K-Electric will receive Rs106 billion from the consumers and the government, in the form of subsidy, for a total 11 quarterly adjustments.
The revised tariff was worked out at Rs17.69 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and its impact would be felt in electricity bills for coming months. “The electricity price has been increased from Rs12.81 to Rs17.69 per unit, an increase of around Rs4.8 per unit,” a Nepra official said.
A major reason for the higher power tariff was the consumption of re-gasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) by K-Electric in power production, which left an additional impact of Rs24 billion.
Other reason was the increase in gas prices from the reference price of Rs400 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) to Rs629 per unit.
Moreover, expensive furnace oil was also a factor as its rate went up from the reference price of Rs27,000 to around Rs70,000 per ton. Increase in operation and maintenance costs as well as capacity cost of independent power producers (IPPs) owing to indexation and exchange rate variation also led to the hike in electricity rates.
It is important to highlight that the government maintains a uniform tariff across the country, thus, the increase for consumers, if any, would be to the extent of maintaining uniformity across the country, and most of the increase would be settled at the government level, Nepra said in the statement.
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