Rs3.24/unit overcharged in January: CPPA ordered to refund Rs27 billion to electricity customers

ISLAMABAD: Electricity consumers, who paid higher rates in January, will be getting refunds of Rs3.24/unit in their February bills after a regulator on Thursday maintained that power generation cost was low during the previous month.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), the apex power watchdog, asked the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) to reimburse the overcharged amount to the power consumers in their electricity bills of February 2018, as they have been charged at higher rate in January 2018.

The Nepra took a decision to this effect in a public hearing under its monthly fuel adjustment formula for January 2018.

This relief/adjustment, worth over Rs27 billion, would be available to consumers in February 2018.

It must be noted that CPPA-G had filed a petition with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority , seeking a reduction of Rs2.97/unit on account of fuel adjustment.

This adjustment is for all the domestic consumers in the country, except for K-Electric customers. However, those domestic consumers, who use up to 300 units/month, will not get this relief as they are already getting subsidised electricity.

The CPPA-G, in its petition, said it had charged consumers a reference tariff of Rs9.8670/unit in January against the actual fuel cost of Rs6.8889/unit, requesting a reduction of Rs2.9781/unit.

“The reduction in actual generation cost was because of a decline in fuel prices, mainly due to zero usage of high speed diesel in power plants,” the CCPA-G said in the petition.

It added that in January 2018, about 7982.32 GWh (Gigawatt hours) was generated, while 7698.86 GWh was delivered to distribution companies with transmission losses of 3.41 percent.

It is worth mentioning that due to closure of canals, in January, hydropower generation share in overall electricity generation pie has reduced to 7.6 percent. In December 2017, it was 15.86 percent, November 30.86 percent, October 23.96 percent and in September 2017 its share was 36.06 percent.

In January, wind and solar plants contributed about 0.92 percent and 0.69 percent energy respectively at no fuel cost.

The power generation from furnace oil based power plants was recorded 20.43 percent at a cost of Rs10.42/unit. Similarly, the natural gas-based generation remained 23.2 percent at a cost of Rs4.63/unit, whereas generation from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) was 20.08 percent to the overall power supply at a rate of Rs9.24/unit.

Coal-based generation contributed 14.34 percent costing Rs5.19/unit, while share of imported electricity from Iran was 0.48 percent at a cost of Rs11.05/unit.

The CPPA said total energy was generated at a total cost of Rs48.57billion or Rs6.08 per unit, while 3.41 percent less power was supplied to distribution companies at a cost of Rs53.03 billion or Rs6.8889/unit.

The Central Power Purchasing Agency had also requested the regulator to make previous adjustment of Rs4.63 billion or Rs0.58/unit on account of supplemental charges, but the regulator rejected this request and decided to pass on a relief of Rs3.24/unit to the consumers.