Nepra orders Rs0.48 per unit refund nationwide in Nov bills

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has directed all state-run distribution companies and K-Electric to refund consumers Rs0.4812 per unit in November electricity bills after finding that power companies overcharged them in September under the monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA).

The refund, applicable to all but lifeline, protected, EV charging and prepaid consumers, comes as part of Nepra’s review of September’s FCA. The regulator said the overbilling resulted from discrepancies between actual and charged fuel costs. The adjustment will be implemented nationwide in line with a federal Cabinet decision ratified on August 29, which unified FCAs for all utilities, including K-Electric. Any shortfall will be met through subsidies or cross-subsidies.

However, Nepra’s Member (Technical) Rafique Ahmad Shaikh issued a sharply worded dissenting note attached to the decision, accusing the authority of allowing inefficiencies to be passed on to consumers and undermining accountability in the power sector.

He warned that running the Guddu 747MW plant inefficiently, part-load charges of Rs2.5 billion, and Rs302 million in system losses, along with an underused HVDC line operating at 41 percent, continue to inflate consumer tariffs.

He criticized the dispatch of the Kapco plant in violation of the Economic Merit Order, adding Rs9 million to consumer costs, and said idle plants like Neelum Jhelum continue to cause major financial losses that should never be passed on to consumers.

In a separate dissent, he condemned shifting NTDC’s inefficiency costs to consumers as “regulatory leniency,” noting that transmission flaws have cost about Rs126 billion since 2019 despite Rs570 billion in consumer-funded investments.