ISLAMABAD: The Nat­ional Electric Power Regu­l­atory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday decided to return about Rs2.59 per unit to consumers of K-Electric in the next month’s billing on account of lower fuel cost in December 2021.

With the decision, the consumers would get a net reduction of about Rs1.83 per unit in tariff because of a 76 paisa per unit cut in FCA currently in the field for November fuel cost adjustment that has come to an end on completion of the previous billing cycle.

Nepra Chairman Tauseef H. Farooqui announced at a public hearing, also attended by Nepra members from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rehmatullah Baloch and Maqsood Anwar Khan.

The KE had filed the petition for a reduction in FCA stated it had charged its consumers a reference fuel cost of Rs14.65 per unit in December 2021 that turned out to be Rs12.85 per unit. Therefore, it recommended a downward reduction of Rs1.80 per unit in FCA.

The regulator, however, said the scrutiny of data provided by the K-Electric worked out a reduction of Rs2.59 per unit in FCA for December based on actual FCA for December came in at Rs12.06 per unit.

In a statement, the regulator said it would issue a notification for a reduction in FCA in a couple of days after verification of evidence.

The negative adjustment on account of monthly FCA will also apply to the domestic consumers having Time of Use (ToU) meters irrespective of their consumption level. The consumers’ bills will show the revised FCA based on units billed in December 2021.

K-Electric will be required to reflect the fuel charge adjustment for December in the billing month of March 2022.

In case, the incremental industrial and winter incentive package becomes applicable on KE, the amount of negative FCA of such consumers will be adjusted in subsequent adjustments.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022