ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has approved positive adjustment of Rs 1.90 per unit for May 2023 under monthly FCA mechanism, amid dissenting notes by Chairman and Member Sindh against each other’s opinions under the head additional notes.
The Authority conducted a public hearing on July 05, 2023 on the data submitted by CPPA-G in which the latter sought positive adjustment of Rs 2.05 per unit.
The positive adjustment of Rs 1.90 per unit will be recovered in electricity bills of July 2023, in addition to recently approved Rs 4.96 per unit in base tariff. This implies that consumers will pay tariff of Rs 50 per unit in July after addition of taxes and surcharges.
Discos and FCA: CPPA-G and KE seek positive adjustment in tariffs
During the hearing, the Authority also observed that energy from expensive power plants was generated during May 2023. The Authority has been directing NPCC/NTDC & CPPA-G repeatedly to provide complete justification in this regard, to the satisfaction of the Authority and submit complete details for deviation from Economic Merit Order (EMO), showing hourly generation along with the financial impact for deviation from EMO, if any, and the reasons, thereof.
The Authority observed that the required data/information was submitted by CPPA-G along-with the monthly FCA data of May 2023, however, it was not as per the requirements of the Authority. Accordingly, CPPA-G was directed to submit the report as per the desired format for consideration of the Authority.
It was observed that during May 2023, the System Operator (NPCC) had curtailed the drawl of energy from efficient power plants due to following reasons along-with financial impact of such deviations:(i) Transmission line Outages (Permanent Fault)/HVDC Strategic table, Rs.864.66 million; (ii) contractual obligations (Take or Pay), Rs.46.96 million; (iii) transmission network congestion/overloading, Rs.61 1.28 million; (iv) transformational Congestion/Overloading, Rs.99.20 million; and (v) financial impact due to underutilization of efficient plants Rs.48.82 million.
The financial impact on account of deviation from EMO amounted to Rs. 1,670.92 million, which has provisionally been withheld from the FCA claim for the month of May 2023, till the time NTDC provides complete justification to the satisfaction of the Authority. Since the deduction is made by the Authority due to deviation from EMO by NPCC, which is part of NTDC, therefore, the Authority directed CPPA-G to pass on the impact of such deduction to NTDC.
NTDCL reported provisional T&T losses of 262.48 GWh, ie, 2.260%, based on energy delivered on NTDCL system during May 2023. NTDC in addition also reported T&T losses of 35.491 GWII, ie, 2.927%, for PMLTC (HVDC) line. NTDCL is allowed T&T losses of 2.639% only at 500KV and 220 kV network, while PMLTC (HVDC) is allowed T&T losses of maximum up-to 4.3%.
Member (Technical), Rafique Ahmad Shaikh, in his additional note said that regarding the FCA of Discos for May 2023, there are several noteworthy points to consider.
Firstly, despite the availability of dedicated and cost-effective gas, the utilization factor of power plants at Central Power Generation Company Limited (CPGCL), including the recently commissioned Guddu 747 machine, remained disappointingly low at 29%. The Guddu 747 steam turbine has been on forced outage since August 2022, resulting in the plant operating in an open cycle.
This situation has had significant financial implications for both consumers and the national exchequer. In terms of RLNG power plants, the Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Plant (QATPL) and the two power plants managed by the National Power Parks Management Company Limited at Haveli Bahadur Shah (HBS) and Balloki, stand out as the most efficient options in the Pakistan Power Sector, with efficiency levels surpassing 61%.
During May 2023, the utilization factors of these three power plants were as follows: QATPL recorded approximately 75.46%, HBS approximately 85.14%, and Balloki approximately 68.94%. These power plants have accumulated claims totaling Rs. 3.461 billion due to part-load operation during the mentioned month. By fully utilizing these power plants, not only can load shedding be minimized, but part-load charges amounting to Rs. 3.461 billion can also be avoided. Another significant development is the completion of the dedicated transmission line from TCB-I to Matiari on May 9, 2023.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023