ISLAMABAD: Electri­city rates for consumers of 10 ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) may go up by about Re1.53 per unit on account of monthly fuel cost adjustment for two months due to higher than estimated power generation cost.

In a public hearing set for Dec 30, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) will take up two separate petitions for increase in consumer tariff for ex-Wapda Discos on account of fuel cost adjustment of electricity consumed in October and November. The higher electricity rates, upon approval by the regulator, would be recovered from consumers in the upcoming billing month (January).

The petition for tariff increase has been filed by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on behalf of ex-Wapda Discos to generate about Rs20 billion in additional revenue for these companies. The CPPA has claimed additional cost of 58 paisa per unit for October and 96 paisa per unit for November.

The CPPA in its petition said it had charged consumers a reference fuel tariff of Rs3.76 per unit in October but the actual fuel cost turned out to be Rs4.33 per unit, hence it should be allowed to charge 57 paisa per unit additional cost to consumer. The petition was originally scheduled for public hearing on December but was postponed.

In the meanwhile, the CPPA filed another petition for fuel price adjustment for the month of November.

In this petition, the CPPA claimed that Discos had charged a reference rate of Rs2.49 per unit to consumers in November while the actual fuel cost came in at Rs3.45 per unit. Therefore, it should be allowed to charge 96 paisa per unit additional cost from consumers next month.

Nepra has clubbed both petitions for public hearing on December 30. The regulator had allowed higher fuel cost adjustment of Rs1.114 per unit for electricity consumed in September. The additional charge was billed to consumers during the current month.

Once approved, the fresh fuel cost adjustment of Rs1.53per unit would replace the Rs1.114per unit fuel cost this month.

Total energy generation from all sources in October was recorded at 10,242 gigawatt hour (GWH) at a total fuel cost of Rs42.2bn at the rate of Rs4.11 per unit. After accounting for 2.64pc transmission losses, about 9.972 GWH energy was delivered to Discos at Rs43.2bn at the rate of Rs4.33per unit.

In comparison, total energy generation in November was recorded at 7,479 GWH at a total fuel cost of Rs25.6bn at the rate of Rs3.42 per unit. Losses increased during this month from 2.64 per cent in October to 3.26pc in November. After accounting for transmission losses, only 7,235 GWH energy could be delivered to Discos at Rs24.9bn at the rate of Rs3.35 per unit.

The data showed that hydropower generation contributed the highest share of 31pc to the power grid which increased to 40pc in November. This was followed by about 28pc contribution from RLNG in October which slightly fell below 26pc in November. Third largest contribution came from coal having 19pc share in October and 15pc in November.

A major shift was seen in the share of power generation from local gas during the two months. In October the share of gas based power generation was well over 11pc which fell below 6pc in November. On the other hand, the share of nuclear power increased from 7pc in October to about 9pc in November. The share of wind power also increased from 1.3pc in October to 2.5pc in November.

Furnace oil-based power generation was 1.51pc of total energy in October which further dropped to 0.37pc in November.

There was negligible power intake from power plants based on high speed diesel, bagasse and solar in both months.

There was no fuel cost on hydroelectricity while coal based fuel cost stood at Rs6.47 per unit in October and Rs7.10 per unit in November. Nuclear energy fuel cost stood at slightly over Rs1.01 per unit in both months while power produced local gas stood at Rs6.7 per unit in October and Rs8per unit. The cost of RLNG-based plants was worked out at Rs6.55 per unit in both months.

The electricity imported from Iran had a cost of Rs11.57 per unit and its total share in power supply was just 0.48pc.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2020