ISLAMABAD: Electricity consumers across the country including Karachi would be facing Rs1.87 per unit additional burden in their current bills despite over 76 per cent electricity generation being from domestic cheaper sources.

The increased cost is based on about 8 paise per unit higher fuel cost adjustment (FCA) on account of consumption in August and expiry of Rs1.79 per unit negative FCA that was applicable in September bills. As a result, the consumers would be paying a net increase of Rs1.87 per unit higher rate than applicable in September.

In many cases where bills have already been issued, the impact would become applicable in November, according to National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) which issued its notification after an unusual delay of a fortnight.

The public hearing on the matter was held on Sept 29 and the regulatory decision came on October 14 with a serious dissenting note from Nepra’s member technical for continuous and unreasonable burden on consumers instead of accountability of the power firms.

“The authority has decided that positive FCA for August 2025 i.e Rs0.0796/kWh…. shall be applicable to all the consumer categories of K-Electric and ex-Discos except lifeline consumers, protected consumers, Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and Pre-paid electricity consumers of all categories who opted for pre-paid tariff”, said the notification.

It asked the power companies to reflect the fuel charges adjustment in October’s bill and in the subsequent month in case of bills already being issued.

Nepra’s Member Technical Rafique A. Shaikh dissented “from the majority decision to shift the burden of inefficiencies — specifically those attributable to NTDC (now NGC) — onto electricity consumers, who bear no responsibility for these systemic failures”.

He pointed out that the need for power sector reform arose from long-standing inefficiencies that undermined the sector’s performance. In 1992, a comprehensive restructuring plan was introduced with the aim of corporatising or privatising power sector entities to improve operational efficiency, transparency, and service delivery. “However, more than three decades later, these goals remain largely unachieved”.

The continued operation of power sector entities within the public sector, along with the failure to implement meaningful corporatisation or privatisation, has led to cumulative losses amounting to trillions of rupees — driven largely by inefficiencies in planning, execution, and operations. Rather than improving, the sector has grown increasingly burdened by structural inefficiencies, threatening its long-term viability, he said.

During the proceedings for the monthly fuel charges adjustment for August, the persistence of inefficiencies within the sector has once again come to the forefront.

It has been observed that the operation of the Guddu 747MW power plant in open-cycle mode during the reference month has imposed an additional financial burden of approximately Rs956 million. Moreover, Part Load Adjustment Charges (PLAC) have surged to Rs3.9bn.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2025