March bills K-Electric seeks Nepra's nod for Rs4.95 per unit refund

ISLAMABAD: Karachi’s power utility K-Electric (KE) has filed a petition with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) seeking approval to refund Rs4.95 per unit to its consumers in March bills.

The proposed refund comes after the utility charged higher per unit electricity rates in December, 2024. Under the monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for December, the company wants to refund approximately Rs4.94 billion to its power consumers.

The regulator has scheduled a public hearing for February 26 to consider the KE request for a provisional negative FCA. The adjustment, whose calculation is based on an interim reference tariff from March 2023, also includes KE’s request for compensation of Rs5 billion in accumulated fuel costs from July to December 2024, related to power plant generation tariff determinations.

The hearing will address the justification of KE’s requested FCA, its adherence to merit order in plant dispatch and power purchases, and the appropriateness of adjusting the accumulated fuel costs from the negative FCA. If approved by the regulator, the adjustment will apply to all consumer categories except lifeline consumers, domestic consumers using up to 300 units, electric vehicle charging stations, prepaid electricity consumers of all categories, and agriculture consumers.

However, the negative adjustment for the monthly FCA will also apply to domestic consumers with Time of Use (ToU) meters, regardless of their consumption level. Notably, earlier for the November 2024 FCA, the regulator directed KE to refund Rs1.23 per unit in February 2025 bills. The refund for September was Rs0.1758 per unit, while October’s was Rs0.27 per unit.