ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Wednesday allowed the power distribution companies, except K-Electric, to charge Rs1.53/unit extra from consumers on account of monthly Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) for December 2020. The power distribution companies (Discos) would collect the amount from consumers in their February 2021 bills. The hike was allowed as the consumers were charged less in December against the cost of power generation. After this increase, Discos will collect an additional Rs11.6 billion from consumers. This increase will be not applicable to K-Electric for being a privatised company. In January’s electricity bills, the government had allowed power distribution companies to charge Rs1.06/unit extra from consumers.
The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on behalf of Discos had requested for permission to charge Rs1.8085/unit from consumers. The Regulator held its public hearing on January 27 on determining the final permission.
On Wednesday, Nepra notified its final decision permitting Discos to charge Rs1.5359/kwh from all the consumer categories except lifeline consumers (consuming up to 50 units/month) of all the ex-Wapda Discos. The adjustment shall be shown separately in the consumers’ bills on the basis of units billed to the consumers in the month of December 2020 by the Discos. Discos shall reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of December 2020 in the billing month of February 2021. The decision said from perusal of the information provided by CPPA-G, the actual pool fuel cost for the month of December 2020 is Rs6.2687/unit, against the reference fuel cost component of Rs4.4602/unit.
CPPA-G also claimed an amount of Rs10.477 billion on account of previous adjustments & supplemental charges for the month of December 2020. However, the Authority verified the same as Rs9.086 billion, which has been included in the monthly FCAs of December 2020. The Authority also during the hearing observed that prima facie certain efficient power plants were not fully utilised and instead energy from costlier RFO based power plants was generated to the tune of over Rs3.609 billion during the month of December 2020.
The Authority has been directing NPCC/NTDC & CPPA-G repeatedly to provide complete justification in this regard, to the satisfaction of the Authority and submit complete details for deviation from Economic Merit Order (EMO), showing hourly generation along with the financial impact for deviation from EMO, if any, and the reasons, thereof.
The National Transmission and Despatch Company Ltd (NTDCL), reported T&T losses of 280.88 GWh ie 3.23 percent based on energy delivered on NTDCL system during December 2020. The same has however been verified as 3.21 percent, therefore, for working out FCA of December 2020, T&T losses of 279.07 GWh have been considered.
