K-Electric consumers to face higher power bills in next three months

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has issued a notification to K-Electric to charge additional per unit cost of electricity of the last six months on account of the monthly fuel cost adjustment (FCA) to the power consumers.

The Nepra, for January, determined and allowed the DISCOs to collect Rs1.2505 per unit from the power consumers, for February Rs2.0983 per unit and for March, it asked to charge Rs1.9419 per unit, while regarding April’s FCA K-Electric has been asked to return Rs0.5499 per unit, for May Rs0.9498 per unit and another refund of Rs0.1507 per unit for June to the consumers.

However, the Nepra has allowed K-Electric to collect the six-month (January to June) fuel charges adjustment (FCA) from the consumers in their August, September and October bills. In the August bills, the FCAs for two months of January and June will be settled. Since in one month the consumers had to pay to K-Electric while in another month the company had to return to the consumers, so the K-Electric will charge Rs1.0998 per unit from the power consumers. In September, the adjustment of February and April will be made and Rs1.5484 per unit will be collected from the consumers. In the October bills, the company will charge Rs0.9921 per unit additional from the consumers.

The determination for these months has been made under monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) — a system designed to adjust monthly electricity fees based on fluctuations in (actual recorded) fuel prices for crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal. The positive FCA shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except lifeline consumers (consuming up to 50 units). Whereas, the positive FCA shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except lifeline consumers, domestic consumers consuming up to 300 units and agriculture consumers of the K-Electric. It is hereby clarified that negative adjustment on account of monthly FCA is also applicable to domestic consumers having Time of Use (ToU) meters irrespective of their consumption level.