ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Monday notified a Rs4.34 per unit increase in the price of electricity under the head Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) of July 2022.
According to a notification dated September 12, the price increase shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and lifeline consumers of all the Ex-WAPDA power distribution companies (XWDISCOs) except K-Electric. The said adjustment shall be shown separately in the consumers’ bills on the basis of units billed to the consumers in the month of July 2022 by the XWDISCOs. The DISCOs shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of July 2022 in the billing month of September 2022.
An official of NEPRA on condition not to be named said that power consumers of XWDISCOs will bear the additional burden of approximately Rs59 billion due to FCA of July.
Earlier, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on behalf of all power distribution companies (DISCOs) excluding K-Electric had asked NEPRA to jack up the power price by Rs4.69 per unit.
On 31st August, NEPRA conducted a hearing to consider the application of CPPA, seeking Rs4.69 per unit hike in the power tariff on account of FCA of July.
It is relevant to note that the FCA of July is Rs5.55 per unit less than the FCA of June which was earlier fixed at Rs9.90 per unit by the authority.
The CPPA had earlier submitted that the total electricity generated with various fuels in the month of July was recorded at 14,150.91 GWh, at a basket price of Rs10.7093 per unit. The total cost of energy was Rs151.546 billion.
The power generation with hydel source was 4,976.93 GWh constituting 35.15 per cent while power production with coal-fired power plants was 1,802.19 GWh which was 12.74% of total generation at a price of Rs20.2176 per unit and power production with high speed diesel (HSD) was recorded at 205.97 GWh which was 1.46% of the total power generation, at a cost of Rs27.8886 per unit in the month of July 2022.
Similarly, power generation with RFO was 876.92 GWh which is 6.20% of total generation calculated at Rs35.6984 per unit, while the generation from gas-based power plants was 1,466.41 GWh which is 14.603% of the total generation, totaling Rs9.9585 per unit and the generation from RLNG was 2,119.55 GWh which is 14.98% of total generation at Rs28.2899 per unit.
Likewise, power generation from mixed sources was 16.92 GWh at a price of Rs4.7567 per unit, generation from bagasse recorded at 40.63 GWh, the price of which has been calculated at Rs5.9822 per unit. The electricity generated from wind was recorded at 518.50 GWh which is 3.66% of total generation and solar at 70.77 GWh which is 0.50% of the total generation in July.
Moreover, electricity generation from nuclear sources was 2,009.54 GWh which came out at Rs1.0493 per unit which is 14.20% of the total generation, and electricity imported from Iran was 46.57GWh that amounted to Rs22.8380 per unit in the said month.
Profit also learnt from data submitted by the CCPA-G with NEPRA that net electricity delivered to Discos in July 2022 was 13,760.32 GWh at a rate of Rs10.9833 per unit, total price of which was Rs151.133 billion.
The CPPA-G in its tariff adjustment request advocated that the reference fuel charges for July 2022 were fixed at Rs6.2879 per unit while the actual fuel charges were recorded at Rs10.9833 per unit. So an increase of Rs4.6954 per unit in the power tariff should be made for the month under FCA mechanism.
