ISLAMABAD: K-Electric has sought the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (Nepra) approval for extracting Rs6.636 billion additional funds from its consumers at the rate of Rs4.49 per unit for the electricity used in March.

Nepra has accepted the KE’s tariff petition under the monthly fuel cost adjustment (FCA) mechanism and fixed a public hearing for May 3.

The regulator would now examine the petition on two counts – whether the Karachi-based power utility’s additional FCA estimate was justified or required a lower charge to consumers and whether the company had followed economic merit order while utilising its own and external power purchases.

Last month, Nepra allowed only a 58 paise per unit increase in FCA for February against KE’s request for Rs1.66.

After approval by Nepra, the increase in FCAs would be adjusted in consumers’ bills in the upcoming billing month of May. The FCA is reviewed every month as per the tariff regime applicable across the country and is usually applicable to the consumer’s bills for one month only.

The higher FCA, on approval, would be available to all consumer categories of KE except lifeline power consumers, domestic consumers consuming up to 300 units, and agricultural consumers and electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS). The adjustment on account of monthly FCA is also applicable to domestic consumers having Time-of-Use (ToU) meters irrespective of their consumption level.

KE said the higher FCA was primarily due to an increase in fuel prices of RLNG and costly imports of electricity from the national grid. It claimed that the price of power purchased from the national grid in March had increased by 41pc as compared with December 2022.

Similarly, the price of purchase for RLNG from SSGC increased by 14pc from December 2022, while RLNG purchased from Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) was higher by 20pc in the same period. Furnace oil prices in March decreased by 10pc from December 2022.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2023