Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Country’s power consumers of all power distribution companies (DISCOs) including K-Electric are likely to witness another hike in the power tariff on account of monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for the month of March 2023.
National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Wednesday conducted public hearings on the requests of Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) and K-Electric (KE) under the head FCA of March 2023.
CPPA, in its application, has requested to increase the electricity price by Rs 1.17 per unit while KE asked to raise the power tariff for its consumers by Rs 4.49/unit.
NEPRA’s hearings were presided over by Engineer Taseef H. Farooqui, Chairman NEPRA and NEPRA members, Engineer Rafiq Ahmed Sheikh, Engineer Maqsood Anwar Khan, Muthar Niaz Rana and Amna Ahmed were also present in the hearing.
After preliminary check and scrutiny of the data submitted by both i-e CPPA & KE, NEPRA observed that the increase in FCA amounts to 34 paisa per unit for the consumers of all DISCOs and the increase in March FCA amounts to Rs 3.70 per unit for the consumers of KE.
According to NEPRA, the increase in power tariff under FCA of March 2023 for the consumers of both DISCOs & KE will be applicable for one month only. However, this increase will not be applicable to power customers except Lifeline and electric vehicle charging stations. The authority (NEPRA) will issue its detailed decision after further scrutiny of the data, said NEPRA.
The main reason, according to CPPA for the increase in FCA was massive previous adjustments while generation cost also increased by 13.5 per cent to Rs 9.8860 from Rs 8.7122 per unit.
According to data submitted to NEPRA by the CPPA, in March 2023, hydel generation was 2,001.61 GWh constituting 22.90 per cent of total generation.
Power generation from coal-fired power plants was 1,333.51 Gwh in March 2023, 15.26 per cent of total generation at a price of Rs 8.6768 per unit.
Electricity generation from HSD was zero during the month of March. Generation from RFO was 40.53 Gwh (0.46 per cent of total generation) at Rs 21.2769 per unit.
Electricity generation from gas-based power plants was 1,107.01 Gwh (12.66 per cent) at Rs 11.2621 per unit. Generation from RLNG was 1,784.59 Gwh (20.49 per cent of total generation) at Rs 24.3095 per unit.
Electricity generation from nuclear sources was 2,002.01 at Rs 1.0803 per unit (22.90 per cent of total generation), and electricity imported from Iran was 31.58 GWh at Rs 23.3860 per unit.
Power generation from different sources (mixed) was 13.56 GWh at a price of Rs 5.2664 per unit. Generation from baggasse was recorded at 104.86 GWh price of which has been calculated at Rs 5.9822 per unit.
The energy generated from wind was recorded at 221.33 GWh, 2.53 per cent of total generation and solar at 110.73 GWh, 1.27 per cent of total generation in March 2023.
The total energy generated recorded at 8,741.32 GWh, at a basket price of Rs 8.2173 per unit. The total cost of energy was Rs 71.830 billion.
CPPA also sought previous adjustment/ supplemental charges of over Rs 14.146 billion, FCA cost of which has been calculated at Rs 1.6183 per unit. The sale to IPPs was also reduced by 23.08 GWh, the price of which was negative Rs 2.348 billion while the reduction in transmission losses was recorded at 259 GWh, price of which was Rs 0.29 per unit.
According to the CCPA data, net electricity delivered to Discos in March 2023 was 8,459.24 GWh at a rate of Rs 9.8860 per unit, total price of which was Rs 83.628 238 billion. CPPA-G in its tariff adjustment request maintains that since the reference fuel charges for March 2023 were estimated at Rs 8.7122 per unit whereas the actual fuel charges were Rs 9.8860 per unit including supplemental charges of Rs 14.146 billion, hence an increase of Rs 1.1738 per unit has been sought for March 2023 under FCA mechanism.
