ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Thursday approved a cut in the power price by Rs 2.32 per unit on account of fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for the month of December 2022 and issued a notification in this regard.
According to NEPRA’s notification, this cut in electricity price shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except lifeline consumers, domestic consumers using upto 300 units, agriculture consumers and Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS), consumers of all the power distribution companies (DISCOs) except the consumers of K-Electric (KE).
“It is hereby clarified that the negative adjustment on account of monthly FCA is also applicable to the domestic consumers who have Time of Use (ToU) metres irrespective of their consumption level,” reads the NEPRA notification.
It also said that DISCOs shall reflect the FCA in respect of December 2022, in the billing month of February 2023.
Also, while effecting the FCA, the concerned DISCOs shall keep in view and strictly comply with the orders of the courts notwithstanding this order, the notification added.
The actual fuel charges component for December 2022 was registered at Rs 7.0027 per kilowatt hour (kWh) while the corresponding reference fuel charges component was fixed at Rs 9.3193/kWh. The fuel price variation was recorded at Rs 2.3166/kWh for the month of December 2022.
Earlier, NEPRA on January 31, 2023, conducted a hearing on the application of the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) to consider a variation in FCA of December 2022. After an initial scrutiny of the data, NEPRA hinted at the approval of a Rs 2.32/unit cut in the power tariff for the consumers of DISCOs.
The hearing was chaired by NEPRA chairman Tauseef H. Qureshi and NEPRA members Engineer Rafique Ahmed Shaikh, and Engineer Maqsood Anwar were in attendance.
The CPPA in its application on behalf of DISCOs, requested a Rs 2.20 per unit reduction in the power tariff under the head FCA for December 2022.
The CPPA also submitted that the total electricity generated with various fuels in the month of December 2022 was recorded at 8,416.81 gigawatts hours (GWh), at a basket price of Rs 7.0441 per unit. The total cost of energy was Rs 59,289 million.
Power generation from hydel was 1,720.43 GWh, or 20.44% of production, while coal-fired plants produced 1,520.93 GWh, or 18.07%, at a price of Rs 11.4954 per unit. Power generation from residual fuel oil (RFO) was 38.91 GWh, or 0.46% of total generation, at Rs 25.7971 per unit.
Gas-based plants produced 1,273.80 GWh, or 15.13%, at Rs10.4992 per unit, compared to power from regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) totalling 1,153.73 GWh, or 13.71%, at Rs 20.2071 per unit.
Production from mixed sources was 2.18 GWh at a price of Rs 3.2781 per unit; from bagasse 101.09 GWh, at Rs 5.9731 per unit; from wind 211.57 GWh; from solar 69.46 GWh, at Rs 2.7773 per unit.
Generation from nuclear sources was 2,284.86 GWh, or 27.15% of the total generation, at Rs 1.0726 per unit. Electricity imported from Iran accounted for 39.85 GWh at Rs 21.5555 per unit.
Data submitted by the CPPA to NEPRA also showed that net electricity delivered to DISCOs in December 2022 was 8,096.88 GWh at Rs 7.1198 per unit, the total price of which was Rs 57,648 million.
The CPPA, in its tariff adjustment request, advocated that the reference fuel charges for December 2022, for DISCOs were fixed at Rs 9.3193 per unit while the actual fuel charges were recorded at Rs 10.9833 per unit.
It is pertinent to mention that the FCA is reviewed every month as per the tariff regime applicable across the country and is usually applicable to the consumer’s bills for one month only.
FCAs are linked with changes in global fuel prices and passed onto consumer bills under prescribed rules and regulations of NEPRA and the government of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, NEPRA has constituted a committee to probe the countrywide electricity breakdown on 23-01-2023. The NEPRA inquiry committee is comprised of Imran Kazi, Senior Advisor (M&E), NEPRA as Convener, while Nadir Khoso, Market Expert, Ghulam Abbas Memon, Market Expert, Syed Safeer Hussain, Market Expert and Syed Aqib Ali Shah, Deputy Director (M&E), NEPRA Secretary as members of the inquiry committee.
The committee shall conduct the said inquiry and shall present a detailed report to the authority in 15 working days, said NEPRA.
According to NEPRA, due to system disturbance in the transmission network of NTDC, a total power system collapse occurred on January 23, 2023 around 07:34 a.m. which plunged the whole country into darkness and the system was completely restored after a longer duration.
The authority took serious notice of the above incident and acquired a preliminary report from NTDC and KE. Subsequently, a briefing/presentation by NTDC, KE, WAPDA and all DISCOs was held on January 31, 2023, wherein, all these companies submitted their point of view before the Authority. During the briefing, it was observed that stances taken by the entities are contradictory to each other and no one was ready to take responsibility of the incident, said NEPRA, in a statement issued on Thursday.
