ISLAMABAD-National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has hinted at a hike of Re0.99 per unit and Rs1.71 per unit in the tariffs of Discos and KE respectively, and noted that the delay by NTDC in completion of transmission line for evacuation of Thar coal based electricity will burden the consumers by Rs80 billion. Nepra held two separate public hearings on Discos and KE monthly fuel charges adjustments and one hearing on quarterly adjustments of KE. The public hearing was presided over by Taseef H. Farooqui, Chairman Nepra, and was attended by Nepra members. In the first hearing over CPPA-G petition for tariff hike on account of monthly FCA of January, Nepra indicated that power tariff increase comes to Re 0.48/unit. CPPA-G had sought an increase of Rs1.1728/unit in electricity tariff on account of monthly fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for January 2023.
In a petition submitted to NEPRA, on the behalf of power distribution companies (XWDISOCs), the CPPA-G said that for the month of January the reference fuel charges from the consumers were Rs10.5541/unit while the actual fuel cost was Rs11.7269/unit. Therefore, it should be allowed to pass the hike of Rs1.1728/unit to the consumers. However, after initial scrutiny of the data, the regulator said that the increase will be Re 0.48/unit., However it said the hike could go up to Rs 0.99/unit including previous adjustments which are still under scrutiny. The NTDC management requested the Nepra to pass on a burden of Rs 5.4 billion financial impact due to failure of the company to evacuate the full electricity generated from Thar coal power project. During hearing, the authority grilled the NTDC’s officials for not timely completing the transmission line for evacuating electricity from Thar coal projects. Chairman Nepra questioned why the burden of mismanagement of the company should be passed on to the consumers who were already being burdened with high electricity bills. It was mismanagement of the company that failed to complete the transmission line project, chairman NEPRA added.
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He said that they had estimated total financial impact of Rs 80b during three to four months which NTDC wanted to pass on the consumers due to failure of the company to evacuate power from Thar coal projects. Official of the NTDC said that the company was in poor financial health as it was getting loans to pay off loans. He requested to shift burden of Rs 5.4b on to the consumers. He also requested that pending claims of Rs 13b had been verified and be allowed to recover from the consumers. He further said that NTDC was also paying penalties to IPPs and disallowing Rs 5.4b will further burden the company.
Contractors working on the transmission line had left the work due to higher cost of the material in wake of depreciation of rupee against dollar and Covid situation as well, the NTDC official informed. They said that material was not available due to Covid situation and it also led to delay in completion of the project, the official further claimed. However, the authority was of the opinion that the excuse was not justified as the work on all other projects in the country is well on time and only NTDC transmission project suffered a delay. The regulator noted that it was due to the mismanagement of NTDC that led to the delay in the completion of the project. Nepra gave a deadline to NTEC, until next Monday, to justify the delay or the regulator would not allow the amount. During the hearing, it was informed that Kapco had supplied 2.7 GWH energy at cost of Rs 46.50/unit during time of blackouts in Pakistan. Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Kapco had expired in October 2022 and no further agreement was signed, the regulator was told.
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Chairman Nepra expressed serious concern about why electricity was taken from a plant that did not have a power purchase agreement. The authority was informed that Kapco had only a functional grid and, therefore, had helped restore the electricity. During hearing, it was pointed out that IPPs were not following operating procedure. The regulator sought report in this regard. In its hearing on the monthly FCA of K Electric for January 2023 and the second quarter adjustment of the financial year 2022-23,Nepra indicated an increase of Rs 1.17/unit on account of fuel adjustment for month of January 2023. K Electric had submitted a request for an increase of Rs 2.70 per unit under FCA for January 2023, Nepra said. However, Nepra after initial scrutiny of the data said that January’s FCA hike will be Rs 1.71/unit. In a separate petition, K-Electric had also sought a reduction of Rs 7.366/unit for the quarterly adjustment for October-December 2022. The monthly FCA will be applicable to all of the electricity consumers, except lifeline and electric vehicle charging stations, Nepra said. The authority has reserved the judgments on all petitions and will issue its detailed decision after further scrutiny of data.
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