ISLAMABAD: The National Elec­t­ric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday notified a 40 paise per unit additional fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for K-Electric clients for power consumed in August.

The FCA would be applicable in consumer bills of January 2025 and provide about Rs675 million to KE, which had demanded a 51 paise hike to extract Rs853m.

This will replace a positive FCA of Rs3.04 per unit to be charged to consumers in December, previously approved by Nepra for electricity consumption in July. The Karachiites would pay a positive FCA of Rs3.17 per unit in November. Effectively, the consumer-end rate in January 2025 would be lower than in November and December.

The representatives of business, commercial and political communities based in Karachi had opposed the fresh FCA, saying it could affect business and commercial activities in the country’s largest metropolitan and port city at a disadvantage against the rest of the country. They are critical of both KE and Nepra for operating and allowing inefficient plants, respectively, resulting in KE’s fuel cost of Rs24 per unit in August compared to Rs8.8 per unit in the national grid.

They said Nepra had ordered KE to refrain from revenue-based loadshedding and restrict power cuts to pole-mounted transfers (PMTs) two years ago but had not been honoured by the utility.

Nepra noted in its order that KE also confirmed that it was still assessing the feasibility of PMT-based loadshedding.

Fuel charge adjustments are incurred by utilities due to global variations in fuel prices and changes in generation mix. The higher FCA, the notification said, would apply to all consumer categories except lifeline power consumers, prepaid metering consumers and electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS).

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2024