ISLAMABAD, April 12: All the distribution companies of Wapda would have their separate electricity rates when the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) releases its determinations
on their tariff petitions by the end of this month.
Nepra chairman Lt-Gen Saeed uz Zafar told reporters here on Monday that Nepra would start issuing separate tariff determinations by the end of this month and it was up to the government to pick up the subsidy in case it wanted to keep uniform power rates across the country.
However, Nepra determinations would give a justified tariff under its formula and so the rates would vary from company to company on the basis of their loss situation. These might be higher in case of Quetta and Sindh, he said.
The process of tariff determinations would start with Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) by the third week of this month, the company being on priority of the privatization list. This will be followed by determinations for National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), and Wapda Hydel and National Electric Power Company.
He said one way of maintaining a uniform tariff was that the government would take away the surplus profit of the profit-making companies and put it into a joint pool to finance the tariff of loss-making companies.
Responding to a question, he confirmed that the government "has not yet passed on" an eight-paisa reduction in the tariff of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) as determined by Nepra more than two months ago.
"We keep on reminding them to notify the tariff reduction approved by Nepra but we have no powers to do more than that." He said the government was required under the law to notify the tariff determined by Nepra but the authority was not aware of the government's financial problems.
When asked as to how Nepra would give tariff determinations when Fesco's assets and liabilities had not legally been transferred by Wapda pending consent of donor agencies, the Nepra chief said it would be based on its financial statements and solvency situation and not on simple assumptions.
Earlier, he told a public hearing of Wapda seeking licence for Wapda Hydel as a power generation company, that Nepra had requested the government to extend the jurisdiction of the Nepra Act to Fata and Pata as well so that its tariff determinations could also be applicable in tribal areas.
It was clarified that any sales to NTDC by generation facilities located in Azad Kashmir will be regulated by Nepra. The authority stressed that Wapda Hydel was being considered for grant of generation licence and its function as a producer of power from AJK was not being discussed in this hearing.
The Wapda representatives presented the request for grant of generation licence and explained salient features of the applications seeking licence for its 14 hydel stations including Ghazi Barotha.
The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry demanded separate licences for each hydel station as cost of investment was different for each station. Wapda people insisted for grant of one licence for all hydel stations to Wapda.
Nepra vice-president Abdul Rahim said that all the generation companies, including Wapda Hydel, would work under a competitive trading arrangement (CTA). He also said that provincial governments would also be free to sell power produced from their run-of-the-river hydel stations directly to bulk consumers like Gwadar port and others.
