National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday cut power tariff by Rs 2.99 per unit on account of fuel price adjustment for month of December 2017.
The decision was taken in a public hearing conducted by the regulator here. Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) had sought previous adjustment of Rs 969.88 million or Rs 0.124 per unit on account of supplemental charges which the regulator turned down.
Following reduction in power tariff, the consumers will enjoy a relief of over Rs 21.7 billion. However, the K-Electric and agricultural consumers as well as domestic users, who consume less than 300 units of electricity per month, will not be enjoying the tariff reduction.
The relief will not be passed on to the industrial consumers who were already getting cheaper electricity.
On the basis of data, Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) has proposed a reduction of Rs 2.77 per unit for December 2017 since the actual cost of generation was Rs5.32 per unit in the period under review against reference price of Rs 8.1037 per unit. As the power distribution companies have recovered an extra Rs21.7 billion through electricity bills for December and the amount will be returned to the consumers following the regulator’s decision.
CPPA, in its petition said that it had purchased 51.47 MW electricity generated on High Speed Diesel (HSD) in December 2017 which accounted for 0.66 per cent of total supply. The total generation from hydel sources was 1231.53 GWh in December accounting for 15.86 per cent of total generation. The hydel generation had been massively reduced after reduction in water releases from Tarbella and Mangla reservoirs due to closure of canals.
CPPA purchased 2251.45 GWh electricity produced on Residual Fuel Oil (RFO), 29 per cent of total generation, at a cost of Rs 9.8 per unit whereas the cost of electricity generated by using indigenous gas was Rs 4.41 per unit and its total share in electricity generation was 17167.59 GWh accounting for 27.7 per cent of total generation during the entire month. The electricity generated from RLNG was 395.06 GWh making a 5.09 per cent of total generation, at a cost of Rs 6.33 per unit.
Nuclear power plants delivered 728.6 GWh of electricity at a rate of Rs 1.025 per unit, cheapest amongst all fuels. The electricity imported from Iran was 38.82 GWh in December at a price of Rs 10.63 per unit. The 86.39 GWh was generated through baggasse at cost of Rs 6.25 and 188.75 GWh and 48.78 was purchased from wind and solar respectively.
According to the petition, total energy generated in December 2017 was 7762.84 GWh at a total price of Rs 39.29 billion. The net electricity delivered to power distribution companies was 7519.12 Gwh at cost of Rs 40.06 billion. Out of total electricity generation, losses stood at 2.99 per cent which were higher compared to previous months.
