Nepra signals Rs1 per unit refund to consumers in Dec bills

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday, after hearing the petitions of state-run distribution companies (Discos), hinted at a refund of Rs1.01 per unit by Discos to power consumers in their December bills for charging higher in October 2024.

On Tuesday, the power regulator held public hearings on the petitions of the distribution companies in which Discos showed their willingness to pay Rs1.0159/unit back to power consumers on account of monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for October 2024.

This would mark the fourth consecutive month of FCA reductions after 18 months of consistent increases. The refund would apply to all categories except lifeline users, domestic consumers using up to 300 units, electric vehicle charging stations, pre-paid electricity consumers across all categories and agricultural consumers. In an earlier decision for July’s FCA, Nepra had asked the Discos to refund Rs0.3692 per unit to consumers in September bills. In August FCA, refunds of Rs0.8555/unit were allowed in October bills. Similarly, for September’s FCA, the refund was Rs1.2754/unit in November bills.

Notably, from January 2023 to June 2024, the FCA remained positive, leading to extra charges for consumers, with the highest adjustment reaching Rs7.056 per unit in January 2024.

The regulator said it would issue a final decision for October’s FCA after thorough scrutiny of the submitted data. During the hearing, it was revealed that the actual fuel cost for electricity generation was Rs9.25 per unit, lower than the reference price of Rs10.27 per unit, marking a reduction of Rs1.0159 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

The cut in tariff would lead to a total relief of Rs10.14 billion for consumers across the country in their electricity bills. The adjustment, which will be in consumers’ upcoming bills, will ease the financial burden caused by rising power costs.

It was also reported that consumers had already paid Rs1.28 per unit in fuel adjustment charges in their November bills. Looking ahead, Nepra expects that consumers will benefit from a further reduction of up to Rs1.02 per unit in December, although the net impact on electricity prices will result in a modest increase of Rs0.26 per unit for December’s bills.