‘Revenue-based load-shedding’: Nepra chief urges govt to alter law

ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Chairman Waseem Mukhtar has asked federal government to alter NEPRA Act if it wants to continue revenue based load-shedding in the country.

He made these remarks during a public hearing on Thursday convened to determine Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) for April 2024. The CPPA-G has sought positive adjustment of Rs 3.49 per unit to recover additional amount of Rs 29.21 billion. The main reason for the higher positive adjustment was higher generation on RLNG against the reference and less generation from hydel sources.

During the public hearing, Chairman NEPRA was apprised that on one hand Minister for Power is in favour of revenue based load shedding and on the other NEPRA is issuing notice to the Discos.

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“In my opinion, Regulator is acting as per provisions of the law and in light of this provision, fines are being imposed on Discos. If the government wants to continue load shedding on the basis of losses, it should amend the Act,” said Chairman NEPRA.

Representative of National Power Control Centre (NPCC), Wajid Chattha informed the Authority that demand had dipped by 17 per cent in April 2024 against reference demand due to weather conditions, whereas 14 per cent decrease was witnessed in demand year on year basis. He further stated that net Fuel Charges Component (FCC) is Rs 1.41/kWh lesser than April 2023.

In April peak generation was 16,118 MW whereas minimum generation was Rs 8,478 MW, main reason of which was substantial variation in weather conditions against Met office forecast.

According to Wajid Chattha, key deviation factors are as follows: (i) above normal temperatures projected by Met Office, whereas actual temperatures remained below normal (-0.87 degrees) with 164 above normal rains; (ii) fuel projections were done in accordance with weather forecast and Ramazan factor; (iii) lesser hydro indent on year on year basis; (iv) Neelum Jhelum went on partial forced outage from April 26, 2024; and (v) 500 KV Dadu –Shikarpur circuit# 1& 2 tower collapse (from April 13, 2024 to April 18, 2024 and April 21, 2024, respectively).

He further stated that the government is considering different policy actions in near future which will provide relief to the consumers.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rihan Akhtar identified the reasons for high pressure in gas pipelines in April 2024: excessive availability of RLNG as demand for RLNG was placed in January 2024 per weather forecast by the Met Office, different from actual weather in April; and hydel generation was also on lower side.

He further stated that difference of the price of surplus RLNG and natural gas is diverted to domestic sector. The recent financial impact of RLNG was Rs 32 billion.

During the hearing, it was further noted that currently 2000 MW of electricity is being produced through net metering whereas no data of off-grid is available. According to the FBR data solar plates of 6,700 MW were imported from July 1, 2023 to April 30, 2024.

The CPPA-G stated that electricity demand increases in the evening when production from solar system is not available.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024