ISLAMABAD: The ex-Wapda distribution companies (XWDiscos) have again sought approval from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) to impose additional charges of Rs4.9917 per unit on consumers in April 2024.
This proposed hike is attributed to the fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for February 2024.
Notably, following January’s FCA, Nepra had authorised Discos to collect an additional Rs7.056 per unit, which consumers are currently paying in their March bills.
Nepra has scheduled a public hearing on March 28 to review this petition of CCPA that it has submitted on behalf of Discos. Notably, of the total demand, these companies also claimed a recovery of Rs3.91 billion from previous adjustments.
The petition indicates a 14.24 decline in power generation in February 2024 over the previous month.
The CPPA’s petition indicates that a total of 7,130 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity was generated in February 2024, with an associated cost of Rs61.996 billion (equivalent to Rs8.695 per unit). Moreover, 6,876 GWh, originally priced at Rs64.804 billion, was delivered to distribution companies (Discos), while transmission losses stood at 3.16 percent (or 225 GWh) of the total generation.
Power generation in February 2024 dropped by 8.07 percent against the same month’s generation of 7,756 GWh in the previous year. Likewise, over the previous month (January 2024), the generation fell 14.24 percent. In January 2024, the total generation was 8,314 GWh.
The generation cost during the month under review increased by 8.52 percent to Rs8.695 per unit from Rs8.0123/unit in the same month of last year (Feb 2023).
Whereas, over the previous month (Jan 2024, unit cost of Rs13.7885), the generation cost in February 2024 fell by 37 percent. Despite cheap generation, the claim by the companies for FCA is still significantly high.
Notably, the generation cost of imported coal, local gas, and imported RLNG were lower than last month. Per-unit power generation cost from imported coal declined by 3.93 percent in February 2024 to Rs20.22/unit from Rs21.05/unit in the previous month. The local cola generation cost however fell by 9.96 percent to Rs12,3794/unit from Rs13.7486/unit in January 2024.
From local coal, power generation was down by 27.6 percent to 994 GWh from 1,373 GWh in the previous month. From imported coal, the generation in February 2024 declined by 76.56 percent to 135 GWh from 576 GWh in January 2024.
Generation from nuclear sources stood at 1,660 GWh, which is 3.93 percent less than January 2024’s generation of 1,728 GWh. Likewise, its generation reduced by 11.8 percent over the same month of last year’s generation from nuclear sources (1,883 GWh).
During the month, the generation cost from nuclear sources stood at Rs1.3213/unit which was almost the same as last month. However, over the corresponding month of last year, the cost of generation in February 2024 from nuclear sources increased by 23.77 percent.
RLNG-based generation in February 2024 stood at 1,450 GWh. It declined by 4.23 percent from 1,514 GWh in January 2024, however over the same month of last year, there was almost no change.
The RLNG per unit generation cost was Rs22.026/unit, which was 9.3 percent cheaper than the previous month’s cost of Rs24.295/unit. Over February 2024’s generation cost of Rs23.3602/unit, this month’s generation was 5.7 percent low.
Interestingly, during the month under review, no power was generated from expensive sources including RFO and diesel. The petition outlines that in February, the consumers were charged a reference fuel cost of Rs4.4337 per unit, while the actual fuel cost incurred was Rs9.425 per unit. The CPPA argues that the additional cost burden of Rs4.9917 per unit should be transferred to consumers.
