ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday gave its consent to approve Paisa 50 per unit positive adjustment in Discos QTAs for second quarter (October- December) of CFY 2022-23 to be effective from March 1, 2023, in addition to existing QTA of Rs 3.08 per unit, which will expire on March 30, 2023.
The Authority comprising, Chairman, Tauseef H Farooqi; Member KPK, Maqsood Anwar Khan; Member Balochistan, Mathar Niaz Rana and newly appointed Member Punjab Ms. Amina Ahmed regulated the public hearing. Joint Secretary (Power Finance), Power Division, Mahfooz Ahmed Bhatti, CEO, CPPA-G Rehan Akhtar represented Power Division whereas CFOs of Discos were available on zoom to justify their claims of QTAs and response to the questions of the Authority.
The Authority expressed displeasure at some Discos for not consuming allocated quota of electricity despite having knowledge that federal government has to pay to the power generation companies against the booked quantity of electricity.
Oct-Dec QTA: Discos seek increase in tariffs
The Authority intended to start recovery of second quarter QTA from April 1, 2023, after the expiry of the prevalent QTA of Rs 3.08 per unit but Joint Secretary Power Division requested the Authority to start its applicability from March 1, 2023 keeping in view cash flow problems of the power sector.
Chairman Nepra enquired from his Tariff Team if the Authority can recover two QTAs at one time, which responded that such precedents exist as it was done in the past. Chairman Nepra advised Joint Secretary Power Division to send his request in writing and the Authority would look into it.
He offered CEO CPPA-G that the Regulator is ready to host a session with Discos’ representatives to sensitize them about the issue.
Member Balochistan Mathar Niaz Rana directed Nepra’s tariff team to also make it a routine to present the impact of unutilized electricity by Discos in future.
Member KPK Maqsood Anwar Khan grilled PESCO team for not utilizing allocated quota and unleashing load shedding. However, newly appointed Member who is dealing with legal affairs did not respond.
CPPA-G intends to recover Rs17.391 billion from their consumers for the second quarter of current fiscal.
According to data shared by Discos, they have filed their requests for adjustments on account of capacity charges, transmission charges and Market Operator Fee (MOF), impact of incremental units, impact of T&D losses on FCA and variable operation and maintenance charges for the second quarter of FY 2022-23.
The Discos have sought overall negative adjustment of Rs6.186 billion on account of capacity charges, positive adjustment of Rs2.024 billion as variable Operation and Maintenance (O&M), positive adjustment of Rs 28.496 billion on account of transmission charges and Market Operator Fee i.e. CPPA-G.
The main share of QTA’s proposed adjustment is related to UoSC and MOF. Of the total amount of Rs 28.496 billion, share of Iesco is Rs 2.434 billion, Lesco, Rs 6.395 billion, Gepco, Rs 3.283 billion, Fesco, Rs 4.131 billion, Mepco, Rs 4.9 billion, Pesco, Rs 3.031 billion, Hesco, 1.694 billion, Qesco, Rs 1.230 billion, Sepco, Rs 617 million and Tesco, Rs 781 million.
During the hearing, it was revealed that the huge impact of UoSC charges is due to revised determination of transmission line tariffs with a delay of over a year.
The Discos have sought negative adjustment of Rs 2.04 billion on account of impact of T&D losses on monthly FCA whereas negative adjustment of Rs 4.770 billion has been sought as impact of incremental units.
The documents show that Iesco has sought positive adjustment of Rs 1.322 billion on all accounts, Lesco, Rs 6.347 billion, Gepco, 6.712 billion, Fesco, Rs 4.612 billion, Mepco, Rs 2.393 billion, Hesco, Rs 1.738 billion and Tesco Rs 1.306 billion. However, Pesco, Qesco and Sepco have sought negative adjustments of Rs 1.957 billion, 1.633 billion and 3.449 billion, respectively.
During the hearing responding to a question, Chairman Nepra said that neither the revised Circular Debt Management Plan (CDMP) has been shared with the Regulator nor was it involved in any such discussions with the IMF.
“We are not aware what commitments Power Division has made with the IMF; we are running our business as usual. Whatever Power Division will bring before us, we will examine it and take a decision on merit,” said Chairman Nepra.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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