Price adjustment: NEPRA cuts power tariff by Rs1.7 per unit

ISLAMABAD: The top power regulatory body has decided to cut electricity tariffs by Rs1.70 per unit for July 2017 in order to adjust for cheaper fuel prices in the international market.

However, K-Electric and agricultural consumers and those domestic users who consume less than 300 units per month will not be enjoying this relief.

Following the tariff cuts by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), consumers will see the fuel adjustment charges reflected in their September power bills. The cut is expected to provide customers relief worth around Rs20 billion.



The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had earlier requested Nepra to reduce the tariff by Rs1.7090 per unit. On Wednesday, during the monthly public hearing on the price adjustment mechanism, the regulator decided to cut tariff.

According to Nepra, the fuel cost of electricity delivered to distribution companies was calculated at Rs4.78 per unit in July against the reference price of Rs6.49 per unit, which suggests that consumers were entitled to receive Rs1.70 per unit.

With power distribution companies recovering an additional Rs20 billion through electricity bills for July, these will be refunded to power consumers as cuts in bills for September.



The total energy generated in the country from all sources stood at 12496.63 gigawatt hours (GWh) in July at a cost of Rs58.65 billion. The CPPA supplied 12,267.41 GWh to the distribution companies at a cost of Rs58.69 billion. The power firms in turn faced a net loss of 215.59 GWh, accounting for 1.73 per cent of total energy supplied.

In July, hydel generation was recorded at 3847.55 GWh, which accounted for 30.79 per cent of the all power generated in the country. Companies generated 335.59 GWh (2.69 per cent) of power using high speed diesel at a cost of Rs14.04 per unit. Power generated through RLNG stood at 1514.50Gwh (12.12 per cent) at a cost of Rs7.5 per unit.

Power generated through gas stood at 2145.15 GWh (17.17 per cent) while that using furnace oil stood at 3198.50 GWh (25.59 per cent).The cost of power generated was Rs4.36 per unit and Rs9.30 per unit through gas and furnace oil respectively.

The share of coal in power generation stood at 2.95 per cent. The total generation through coal was 368.05 Gwh during the month of July and per unit cost was Rs4.26 per unit. Power generated through nuclear source was 641.59 Gwh (5.13 per cent) at cost of Rs0.96 per unit. The country imported 54.28 Gwh power from Iran and its cost was Rs10.63 per unit. The share of power generated through wind, baggasse and solar was 1.86, 0.60 and 0.45 per cent.