National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) is to approve refund of Rs 3.38 per unit for consumers of power Distribution Companies (Discos) for January 2016 under the monthly fuel price adjustment mechanism. Domestic consumers who use up to 300 units a month are not eligible for the refund. The Authority which is not satisfied with the performance of NTDC will announce its decision after a public hearing to be held on March 1, 2016.
The Authority had unearthed a scam of extending massive financial benefit to four HSD -fired IPPs by purchasing expensive electricity at higher prices instead of gas and furnace oil-fired power plants which generate cheaper electricity. According to the CPPA, the fuel cost of electricity delivered to Discos was Rs 6.4817 per unit in January 2016 against a reference price of Rs 9.8670 per unit. Total energy generated from all sources was 6,770 GWh in January 2016 at a cost of Rs 37.5 billion. However, the CPPA delivered 6,503 GWh to Discos at a cost of Rs 42.151 billion. The financial impact of transmission losses has been recorded at 3.79 percent or 256.43 GWh.
However, the CPPA failed to submit total amount of transmission losses but said per unit cost of transmission losses stood at Rs 0.2560 per unit. In January, hydel generation was recorded at 842.95 GWh which was 12.45 percent of total generation, HSD 367.30 GWh (5.43 percent share) at a cost of Rs 12.42 per unit, RFO 338.4 GWh (50 percent of total generation) at a cost of Rs 6.27 per unit, gas 1717.8 GWh at a cost of Rs 6.0162 per unit and nuclear 280.64 GWh at a cost of Rs 1.12 per unit. Pakistan imported 33 .33 GWh electricity in January from Iran at a cost of Rs 10.6 per unit. The Cost of electricity mix has been calculated at Rs 7.81 per unit.