ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday allowed Rs1.16 per unit increase in consumer tariff for ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) on account of fuel cost adjustment based on changes in tariff benchmarks.

The higher rates for electricity consumed in August would be recovered from consumers in the upcoming billing month ie October and would yield about Rs16 billion in additional revenue to the Discos. The decision was made at a regular monthly public hearing presided over by Nepra Vice Chairman Saifullah Chattha.

The Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guarantee (CPPA) on behalf of the Discos claimed an additional cost of Rs1.50 per unit on the basis of recently notified base tariff 2015-16 instead of the previous 2014-15 tariff on which the regulator used to make monthly fuel cost adjustments in the past and resulted in refunds to consumers.

The new base tariff allowed relaxed benchmarks for power companies and higher indexations on various items. Based on 2015-16 tariff, the regulator agreed that power generation cost was higher than actually charged to consumers in August but not as much as claimed by the Discos.

The CPPA representatives insisted that their demand for Rs1.50 per unit was justified as it was based on verified data. The regulator, however, disagreed over at least seven accounts involving a cost of Rs6.744bn, mostly relating to LNG and coal-based benchmarks approved by it and claimed by the CPPA.

These included LNG projects like Haveli Bahadur Shah, Balloki, Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power and Orient and coal-based Jamshoro Power, Sahiwal and Port Qasim Power projects.

The regulator, however, allowed Rs2.44bn allowance for these projects, resulting in Rs1.16 per unit increase instead of Rs1.50 per unit and asked Discos to recover higher cost from consumers in the electricity bills due in October.

CPPA had claimed that the actual fuel cost during August amounted to about Rs6.25 per unit against a pre-determined reference tariff of about Rs4.755 per unit, hence the need for Rs1.50 additional recovery from consumers. Nepra, however, concluded that actual cost worked out at Rs5.92 per unit and hence Rs1.16 per unit hike. The fuel cost for August is higher than Rs5.33 per unit in July.

CPPA’s total energy generation from all sources in August was recorded at 14,017Gwh at a cost of Rs77.8bn while 13,632 Gwh were sold to the Discos at Rs85.18bn with a transmission loss of 2.67pc.

The share of hydel power generation remained healthy last month at 32pc. With induction of three new mega projects of 1,230MW each in Punjab, the share of regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) captured the second position with a contribution of 22.74pc, residual fuel oil (RFO)-based electricity 11.73pc, locally produced gas 14.55pc and coal-based 9.6pc.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2018