K-Electric consumers to pay Rs0.38 per unit more

NEPRA approves tariff increase as part of fuel price adjustment

ISLAMABAD: Despite sharply lower global crude prices, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has agreed to an increase of Rs0.38 per unit in the tariff of K-Electric consumers on account of higher fuel cost for July and August 2016.

This comes in sharp contrast to the tariff reduction being enjoyed by consumers of other power distribution companies under the fuel price adjustment mechanism for the past several months because of a more than 50% plunge in international crude oil prices.

Nepra took the decision at a public hearing on Thursday in response to a petition filed by the K-Electric management that had sought approval for an increase of 14.53 paisa per unit in the tariff for July and 22.63 paisa per unit for August in the wake of variation in fuel cost.

The regulator approved an upward revision of 15 paisa per unit for July and 23 paisa per unit for August.

In its petition, K-Electric pointed out that it had faced a fuel cost variation of Rs237.88 million for July and Rs358.72 million for August in electricity production from external and internal resources.

For power generation from external fuel sources, the company recorded a cost variation of Rs36.650 million in July and Rs163.810 in August. In the case of internal resources, the fuel cost variation was calculated at Rs202.234 million in July and Rs194.919 million in August.

K-Electric supplied 1,636.363 million units of electricity to the consumers in July and 1,584.928 million units in August.

On the contrary, the consumers of other power distribution companies are expected to enjoy a tariff cut of Rs2.76 per unit for September 2016. In this regard, the Central Power Purchasing Agency has filed a petition for approval of the regulator.

The petition said the reference electricity price was set at Rs6.43 per unit against actual cost of Rs3.67 per unit, a decline of Rs2.76 per unit. The regulator will conduct a public hearing on October 27 to decide on the tariff revision.

Total power generation in September stood at 10,220.09 gigawatt-hours (Gwh) costing Rs36.26 billion. However, power distribution companies were supplied 10,034.66 Gwh at a cost of Rs36.84 billion and transmission and distribution losses stood at 175.09 Gwh (1.71%).

Of the total production in September, the share of hydroelectric power was 41.19%, furnace oil-based electricity 25.94%, gas-fired electricity 21.85%, re-gasified LNG-based power 2.91% and nuclear power 4.13%.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2016.

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