ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday firmed up an increase in electricity rates by Rs1.25 per unit to provide about Rs46 billion additional revenue to ex-Wapda Distribution Companies (Discos) on account of quarterly tariff adjustments (QTAs) for January- March.

The increase was sought by the Discos on account of capacity charges, transmission charges, market operator fees, the impact of transmission and distribution losses on fuel cost adjustments and variable operation and maintenance charges for the third quarter of the current fiscal year.

This was announced after a public hearing presided over by Nepra Chairman Tauseef H. Farooqui on the request of Discos for extracting about Rs46.29bn additional from their consumers over the next three months.

The hearing was also attended by Nepra’s member technical Rafique Ahmad Shaikh, member licensing Maqsood Anwar Khan and member law Amina Ahmed.

Nepra worked out an increase of Rs1.25 per unit for the quarter but a formal notification would be issued subsequently after verification of evidence. On approval, the adjustment would be recovered on a uniform basis from all consumers except for lifeline.

Out of the total, the consumers will be paying higher electricity rates to clear bills of Rs31bn on account of capacity charges to the independent power producers (IPPs).

Simply put, the consumers would have to cough up the cost of electricity which Discos had not injected into the national grid due to either system constraints or low electricity demand.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2023