KE seeks Rs4.69 per unit refund to consumers in July bills

ISLAMABAD: K-Electric, the Karachi-based power utility, has filed a petition with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) willing to refund Rs4.69 per unit to consumers in July bills as part of monthly fuel charge adjustments (FCA) for April 2025, totaling approximately Rs7.173 billion.

Nepra has scheduled a public hearing on Thursday, June 19, to review K-Electric’s petition. The hearing will address primary concerns that whether the requested FCA is justified and if the utility adhered to the established merit order when generating electricity from its own power plants and purchasing it from external sources. If this adjustment was approved, it will apply to all consumer categories except lifeline, protected domestic users, EV charging stations and pre-paid customers.

The FCA for April 2025 has been calculated using the interim tariff established in March 2023 as the reference point. K-Electric’s submission included detailed calculations and supporting documentation for Nepra’s evaluation and approval. As per the K-Electric petition, following the determination of generation tariffs for its power plants for the period after June 2023, the company has provided the required partial load, open cycle and degradation curves, along with startup costs, for regulatory approval. An amount of Rs16 billion for the period from July 2023 to April 2025 is pending adjustment. Additionally, heat rate adjustments for the Bin Qasim Power Station III and Korangi Combined Cycle Power Plant under the previous multi-year tariff — amounting to Rs0.6 billion and Rs0.2 billion, respectively — are also pending. Of the total, Nepra has set aside Rs15.2 billion in K-Electric’s fuel cost adjustment decisions for the months of November 2024 through March 2025. Earlier, on account of March FCA, Nepra also approved a negative FCA of Rs2.98/kWh—amounting to Rs4.045 billion in relief—to be reflected in June electricity bills.