ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has notified an across-the-board 50 per cent increase in the fee for fresh applications and modification in existing generation, transmission and distribution and tariff requests by linking its fee structure to the Consumer Price Index.

The fee for residential, agricultural and industrial consumers has also been increased by 50 per cent and the same is the case for a request to participate in public hearings by any intervener.

An official said the revision of the fee structure had been necessitated by the increase in the CPI base since September 2008.

Established under an act of parliament, Nepra has to meet its expenses through various fees and penalties it charges from companies involved in generation, transmission and distribution of electricity as well as tariff petitions submitted by public and private companies from time to time.

After meeting its running expenditure, Nepra is required to surrender surplus funds every year to the government that become part of the federal consolidated fund.

According to the fresh schedule, the fee for application and modification of generation and distribution licences has been increased from Rs40,000 to Rs60,088 for up to one megawatt. The generation licence fee for 1MW to 10MW has been increased to Rs120,176 from Rs80,000, for 10MW up to 20MW Rs180,264 from Rs120,000, 20-50MW Rs240,356 from Rs160,000.

The applicants for generation licence or its modification for 50-100MW will be charged Rs300,440 instead of Rs200,000 and more than 100MW Rs600,880 instead of Rs400,000.

The application for issuance or modification of transmission licence for national grid has been increased from Rs200,000 to Rs300,440. Special purpose transmission licence applications will be charged at Rs180,264 instead of Rs120,000.

The fresh application or modification of existing distribution licences will be processed at a fee of Rs90,132 instead of Rs60,000 for 1-2MW and 2-5MW at Rs240,352 instead of existing fee of Rs160,000.

The fee for 5-10MW has been increased from Rs240,000 to Rs360,528, for 10-20MW from Rs480,000 to Rs721,056, 20-50MW from Rs800,000 to Rs1.2 million and more than 50MW from Rs1m to Rs1.5m.

With the 50 per cent increase, the fee for tariff petitions for distribution companies has been fixed at Rs90,132 for up to 2MW, Rs150,220 for 2-5MW, Rs240,352 for 5-15MW, Rs360,528 for 15-25MW, Rs480,704 for 25-50MW and Rs721,056 for more than 50MW.

The fee for a tariff petition for industrial, commercial and bulk consumers has been increased to Rs60,088 from Rs40,000, while trade associations and related bodies would be required to pay Rs240,352 instead of Rs160,000.

The fee for residential and agricultural consumers has been increased to Rs12,018 from Rs8,000.

The fee for an intervention request by any consumer or interested party to participate in a public hearing has also been jacked up from Rs160 to Rs240.

The application fee for competitive bidding has been increased from Rs100,000 to Rs150,220 for up to 100MW, to Rs300,440 for 101-500MW and Rs450,660 for more than 500MW power plants.

However, the Nepra fee for upfront tariff remains unchanged at Rs20,000 for up to 1MW, 50,000 for 1-10MW, Rs100,000 for 11-100MW and Rs200,000 for over 100MW.