At the rate of Rs3.53/unit for Oct 2023: Nepra agrees to allow Discos to recover Rs32.7bn additional amount

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday agreed in principle, to allow Discos to recover additional amount of Rs 32.7 billion at the rate of Rs 3.53 per unit from their consumers for October 2023 under the garb of previous adjustments.

During the public hearing a representative of CPPA-G, Naveed Qaisar stated that positive impact of FCA in October 2023 was Rs 7.45 per unit against Rs 7.65 per unit of reference FCA, which implies that FCA’s impact was negative paisa 20 per unit. However, with addition of Rs 28.33 billion on account of previous adjustments, at the rate of Rs 2.96 per unit, it reaches Rs 3.53 per unit.

Out of total amount of Rs 28.3 billion previous adjustments, the share of China Power was Rs 3.2 billion fuel cost component difference from August 2019 to June 2023 and Thar Coal Block-1 Power Rs 25.653 billion fuel cost component difference from February-July 2023 respectively. However, after Nepra’s decision of October 19, 2023, the amount of claim was reduced by Rs 533 million in August 2023 due to actualization.

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A proposal was floated that since the impact of previous adjustments will have negative impact on consumers in the bills of December, 2023, the Authority should stagger the amount during winter months.

During the hearing, it was noted that sale of electricity has declined by over 10 per cent to 9.63 billion units in October 2023 as compared to 11.04 billion units in corresponding month of 2022 whereas 28 per cent reduction in demand has been witnessed in October as compared to September 2023.

The Authority noted that if demand has declined due to less consumption by industry, then it is very alarming and if it is due to the weather factor, then it is a different issue.

The NTDC’s representative, Jamshed Iqbal, requested the Authority to delink its “disallowed mechanism” from the FCA hearing. He said, the Authority should review its mechanism as the withheld amount has reached Rs 42 billion due to which survival of the entity is in question. He further contended that NTDC is now unable to pay salaries to its employees and pensions to retired employees.

According to data submitted to Nepra, in October 2023, hydel generation was 3,114 GWh constituting 32.54 per cent of total generation. Power generation from local coal-fired power plants was 1,334 GWh in October 2023 which was 13.94 per cent of total generation at a price of Rs 12.1040 per unit whereas 336 GWh was generated from imported coal at Rs 13.2692 per unit (3.51 per cent).

Generation from HSD was nil whereas generation from RFO was just 0.1 GWh at Rs 38.7028 per unit.

Electricity generation from gas-based power plants was 704 GWh (7.35 per cent) at Rs 13.6059 per unit. Generation from RLNG was 1,939 GWh (20.25 per cent of total generation) at Rs 23.6987 per unit.

Electricity generation from nuclear sources was 1.826 GWh at Rs 1.2272 per unit (19.08 per cent of total generation), and electricity imported from Iran was 23 GWh at Rs 23.1678 per unit. Power generation, generation from baggasse recorded at 29 GWh price of which has been calculated at Rs 5.9822 per unit.

The energy generated from wind was recorded at 191 GWh, 3.08 per cent of total generation and solar at 76 GWh, 0.79 per cent of total generation in October 2023.

The total energy generated was recorded at 9,572 GWh, at a basket price of Rs 8.2605 per unit. The total cost of energy was Rs 79.066 billion.

According to the CCPA-G data, net electricity delivered to Discos in October 2023 was 9,253 GWh at a rate of Rs 11.4277 per unit, total price of which was Rs 105.737 billion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023