ISLAMABAD: With a 3.5 per cent decrease in power consumption in October over last year, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) has sought around 65 paise per unit negative fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for consumers across the country in December bills as almost 75 per cent of the generation came from chea­per domestic, predominantly zero-cost fuel sources.

Once approved, the power companies would refund through billing adjustment about Rs6.3 billion to consumers of all the power companies including ex-Wapda Distribution Companies (Discos) and K-Electric. Nepra has called a public hearing on Nov 27 to examine the request.

The CPPA, which filed the petition for negative FCA, said the power consumption was around 3.5pc lower year-on-year in October and about 21pc lower than in September. It reported that 9,886 billion units (gigawatt hours) of electricity were delivered to Discos in October.

The power companies claimed the average fuel cost amounted to Rs8.72 per unit in October compared to Rs9.25 per unit in the same month last year. The reference fuel cost for October was earlier set at Rs9.37.

The CPPA said about 9,886 GWh of electricity was generated in October at an estimated fuel expenditure of Rs84bn (Rs8.51 per unit), of which 9,630GWh of energy was delivered to Discos at a cost of Rs83.9bn (Rs8.7 per unit).

Hydropower retained its top position with a relatively lower 27.4pc share in the overall grid. The second biggest contribution to the national grid came from Nuclear energy at 22pc followed RLNG at 19.7pc and then local coal (12.76pc) and local gas 9.16pc. Imported coal contributed 4.71pc share to the grid.

The RLNG-based power generation turned out to be the most expensive among the major fuels, with its cost in October reported at Rs21.06 per unit, followed by Rs14.39 per unit from imported coal and Rs13.36 per unit on local gas. Local coal-based power generation cost came in at Rs13 per unit. Furnace oil-based electricity cost was worked out at Rs32.7 per unit, but its contribution to the grid was less than 0.5pc.

The nuclear fuel cost amounted to Rs2.17 per unit in October. The three renewable energy sources — wind, baggasse and solar — together contributed 3.2pc share to the grid. Wind and solar have no fuel cost, while fuel cost from baggasse-based plants stood at Rs10.74 per unit with just 0.4pc contribution to the grid. Electricity import from Iran stood at 0.44pc of the total, with a fuel cost of Rs22.76 per unit.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2025