The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has cut power tariff by 29 paisa per unit on account of fuel price adjustment for August 2014, offering some solace to consumers in the face of inflated bills sent by state-owned power distribution companies for the month.
Nepra – the power sector regulator – took the decision on Wednesday at a public hearing, presided over by its vice chairman.
However, this tariff reduction will not apply to lifeline consumers of power distribution companies using up to 50 units in a month as well as K-Electric consumers.
According to a petition filed by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), the actual electricity price was calculated at Rs6.7811 per unit in August against reference price of Rs7.0755 per unit. Owing to the lower price, the CPPA asked the regulator to reduce tariff by 29.44 paisa per unit.
Fuel charges were estimated at Rs1.10 per unit for hydroelectric power, Rs4.4998 for coal, Rs20.6018 for high-speed diesel, Rs15.7363 for residual fuel oil, Rs4.8855 for gas, Rs1.1807 for nuclear power and Rs9.8 for electricity import from Iran.
In August, 10,340.71 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy was generated from different sources at a cost of Rs68.3 billion. However, distribution companies received 10,234.94 GWh of electricity as about 104 GWh was lost in the transmission system, the cost of which was not made public. The cost of electricity received by the distribution companies was calculated at Rs69.4 billion.
The share of hydroelectric power in total generation stood at 43%, coal-based power had 0.05% share, high-speed diesel 2.94%, fuel oil 31.30%, gas 18.28% and nuclear power 4.22%.
Apart from these, 43.26 GWh was imported from Iran in the month and wind mills produced 37.21 GWh.
Recently, the government has come in for severe criticism for overcharging the power consumers. The cabinet, which met earlier this week, discussed the over-billing complaints and decided to hire services of three reputed audit firms to conduct the audit of August electricity bills which were being set on fire publicly.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2014.
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