Overcharging by Discos: Nepra to approve refund of Rs 1.98 per unit for November

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on December 29, 2015, will approve refund of Rs 1.98 per unit to the consumers for November 2015 overcharged by the Distribution Companies (Discos) under monthly fuel adjustment mechanism. The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) which is responsible for the purchase of electricity from different sources and subsequently for sale to Discos, has submitted a petition to the regulator along with power purchase data with the request to adjust accordingly.
The domestic consumers using below 300 units per month and K-Electric consumers will not be eligible to benefit from the reduction in tariff. According to the CPPA petition, the fuel cost of electricity delivered to Discos was Rs 5.32 per unit in November 2015 against a reference price of Rs 7.30 per unit, suggesting reimbursement of Rs 1.98 per unit.
Total energy generated from all sources was 6,722.13 GWh in November at a cost of Rs 27.531 billion. However, the CPPA delivered 6,540 GWh to Discos at a cost of Rs 34.831 billion. The financial impact of transmission losses has been recorded at 2.59 percent or 173.98 GWh. However, the CPPA failed to submit total amount of transmission losses but said per unit cost of transmission losses stands at Rs 0.1441. In November, hydel generation was recorded at 2,302GWh which was 34.25 percent of total generation, HSD 28.4 GWh (0.42 percent share) at a cost of Rs 12.48 per unit, RFO 1,856 GWh (27.61 percent of total generation) at a cost of Rs 7.432 per unit, gas 2,188 GWh at a cost of Rs 5.75 per unit and nuclear 219.16 GWh at a cost of Rs 1.125 per unit. Pakistan imported 34.45 GWh electricity in November from Iran at a cost of Rs 10.5 per unit. Cost of electricity mix has been calculated at Rs 7.49 per unit.
However, the cost of electricity generated by using baggase as fuel has been estimated at Rs 4.0957 per unit. The CPPA has requested the Nepra to adjust Rs 1.10 per unit in tariff of November as supplemental charges. The Ministry of Water and Power has expressed serious concern over the higher cost of RLNG produced electricity as compared to Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) being used for electricity generation. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources has given different justifications for the higher price of RLNG but the Water and Power Ministry is not satisfied with the arguments of RLNG suppliers.