Discos to collect Rs0.4828 per unit extra from power consumers in Nov

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has issued a notification allowing Discos to collect Rs 0.4828/unit extra from the power consumers in their electricity bills of November.

This decision has been taken under the monthly fuel price adjustment for the month of August 2020. This is a one-time collection and only for November. This amount will be collected from the power consumers of all Discos in their November electricity bills. However, the K-Electric is exempt from its applicability. Lifeline consumers whose consumption is up to 50 units/month will also not pay it. Its impact will be Rs 7 billion.

According to the notification, the fuel cost per unit of electricity production in August was Rs3.68 while the advance fuel cost was fixed at Rs3.20 per unit in August. Furthermore, the additional collection shall be shown separately in the consumers’ bills on the basis of units billed to the consumers in August 2020. Discos shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of August 2020 in the billing month of November 2020.

The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on behalf of Discos had filed the petition to the regulator. It had asked for permission to charge Rs 0.9846/unit from the consumers having a total impact of Rs14 billion. On September 30, the hearing was held on this case. The authority deducted Rs404 million on account of previous adjustments and Rs6.6 billion on a provisional basis on account of the operation of plants on RFO/HSD from the cost claimed by the CPPA.

The authority during the hearing observed that prima facie, certain efficient power plants were not fully utilized and instead energy from costlier RFO & HSD-based power plants was generated to the tune of over Rs 11.594 billion (Rs 9.694 billion from RFO and Rs l.9 billion from HSD-based power plants) in August 2020.

The authority noted that had this energy been generated from other cheaper sources like RLNG or coal, this would have resulted in a reduction in total fuel cost claimed by the CPPA-G.

The authority has been directing the NPCC/NTDC and CPPA-G repeatedly to provide complete justification in this regard, to the satisfaction of the authority, and submit complete details for a generation made on RFO/HSD, showing hourly generation along with the financial impact for deviation from EMO, if any, and the reasons, thereof.

The Nepra, after analyzing the data, decided that the additional impact of operation of RFO/HSD plants is around Rs 6.655 billion. The authority did not allow this amount to the CPAA and asked it to submit hourly detailed data of RFO/HSD power generation of plants. The authority will analyze and then can make a decision on it.