The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Thursday has announced an increase of Rs 4.74 per unit in electricity tariff for consumers, says a statement issued by NEPRA.
According to the statement issued by NEPRA, adjustments have been made in terms of fuel cost in the tariffs approved by the power Distribution Companies, also known as DISCOs. The statement said that the said fuel adjustments have been made with reference to DISCOs for October 2021.
Furthermore, the notification said that the increase of Rs 4.74 would be applicable to categories other than lifeline users. The electricity regulatory body said the increase would be reflected in the units of consumer bills based on the units that DISCOs has for October 2021 and that the increase would be included in the December bill.
It may be recalled that last month, NEPRA had decided to increase the electricity tariff by 4.74 per cent in October in terms of fuel cost for consumers of electricity distribution companies, generating an additional revenue of Rs 60 billion in December.
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The decision was taken at the end of a public hearing at the request of the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) chaired by NEPRA Chairman Tauseef H. Farooqi. The CPPA’s request demanded that the distribution companies be allowed to charge an additional fuel cost of Rs 4.75 to achieve Rs 61 billion next month.
NEPRA case officers had pointed out that the shortage of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) had resulted in an additional burden of Rs 1.69 billion and violation of the Economic Merit Order of Rs 1.77 billion. The CPPA spokesperson explained that the power companies had demanded 700 million square feet per day for October but a total of 606 Million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) gas was supplied.
NEPRA officials had said that the reference price for October was estimated to be 0.2% of power generation from furnace oil but it remained at 11% and power generation from coal was estimated to be 25% at some coal-fired power plants. Including Hub Power, the reason for the shutdown for more than 6 months was 15%.
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The report said that the production of electricity from mixed fuels resulted in an additional cost of Rs 44 billion for fuel while the rest of the increase was due to increase in international fuel prices. The report pointed out that power generation in October 2021 was 18 per cent higher than the estimate, compared to 11 per cent in the same month last year, and the cost of fuel included claims of about Rs 5.20 billion in the past.
On behalf of the distribution companies, CPPA had claimed that the companies had charged consumers Rs 5.17 per unit for electricity in October, while the actual cost of fuel was 58% higher at Rs 9.93 per unit. The CPPA’s request stated that an additional Rs 4.75 paise should be charged from consumers. However, NEPRA had fixed the cost of fuel at Rs 4.74 paise after some changes.
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