NEPRA announces Rs2.06 per unit cut in power tariff

ISLAMABAD:

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday approved a reduction in tariff by Rs2.06 per unit for consumers of power distribution companies (Discos) for November 2015 under the monthly fuel adjustment mechanism.

The new tariff, however, will not be applicable to K-Electric, which supplies power to Karachi.



The decision was taken at a public hearing presided over by Nepra Chairman Brigadier (retd) Tariq Saddozai on the Central Power Purchase Agency’s (CPPA)  petition in which the agency had sought reduction in tariff by Rs1.98 per unit.

Domestic consumers, who use up to 300 units in a month, are not eligible for the refund under monthly fuel adjustment mechanism as the government has assured the lenders, including International Monetary Fund (IMF), that it will not give refund to users who consume up to 300 units and get subsidy.

Nepra chairman said Discos will refund Rs20 billion to the power consumers across the country. According to the CPPA petition, the fuel cost of electricity delivered to Discos was Rs5.32 per unit in November 2015 against a reference price of Rs7.30 per unit.

Total energy generated from all sources was 6,722.13 Gigawatt Hour (GWh) in November at a cost of Rs27.531 billion. However, the CPPA delivered 6,540GWh to Discos at a cost of Rs34.831 billion. The financial impact of transmission losses has been recorded at 2.59 per cent or 173.98GWh.



The CPPA failed to submit the total amount of transmission losses but said per unit cost of transmission losses stands at Rs0.1441 per unit.

In November, hydel generation was recorded at 2,302GWh which was 34.25 per cent of total generation. 28.4 GWh (0.42 per cent share) was generated through High Speed Diesel (HSD) at a cost of Rs12.48 per unit; 1,856 GWh (27.61 per cent of total generation) was generated through Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) at a cost of Rs7.432 per unit.

Meanwhile, 2,188GWh and 219.16GWh was generated through gas and nuclear power respectively at the cost of Rs5.75 per unit and Rs1.125 per unit.  Pakistan imported 34.45GWh electricity in November from Iran at a cost of Rs10.5 per unit.

However, the cost of electricity generated by using bagasse as fuel has been estimated at Rs4.0957 per unit. The cost of electricity mix has been calculated at Rs7.49 per unit.

The CPPA has requested Nepra to adjust Rs1.10 per unit in tariff of November as supplemental charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2015.