ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) on Tuesday approved a tariff hike of Rs 2.90 per unit for the electricity consumers of K-Electric (KE) on account of Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA) for the month of January 2022.
NEPRA’s hearing on the request of K-Electric to increase the power tariff by Rs 3.40/unit was held on March 1, 2022 under the chair NEPRA chairman Tauseef H. Farooqi.
And, NEPRA after completing the hearing approved the power tariff hike of Rs 2.90/unit under head FCA of January 2022 which will add an additional burden of approximately Rs 3 billion on KE consumers.
As per NEPRA, the Authority (NEPRA) will soon announce its detailed decision on FCA of January 2022 after scrutiny of the data submitted by the KE.
During the NEPRA hearing, officials of KE said that expansive electricity was obtained from the national grid while the Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) supply to KE power plants was reduced and the KE had to depend on furnace oil for power generation.
The officials of KE also said that KE’s current generation capacity is 1800 MW while the company’s 900 megawatt (MW) project is expected to start power production during the month of March.
They said that KE’s Bin Qasim Power Plant 3 is ready to start power generation as its first unit of 450 MW is likely to start power generation from March 7.
KE officials also assured the NEPRA that KE’s power generation would reach 3800 MW during this summer season.
Speaking on the occasion, NEPRA chairman said that the issue of low gas pressure is not likely to be resolved soon while NEPRA officials said that KE consumers would have to pay an additional Rs 300 million due to the low gas supply.
During the NEPRA hearing, KE officials also said that Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) has to invest more to supply additional gas to KE. They said that efforts are underway to settle the arrears with SSGCL as early as possible.
However, SSGCL is not ready to give assurance regarding the gas pressure, said KE officials. Upon this, NEPRA chairman said it seems both companies (KE and SSGCL) are so far not ready to ink an agreement in this regard.
Present on the occasion the representatives of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries complained regarding unscheduled load shedding by KE and gas shortages issues. And, NEPRA chairman advised the KE to augment its system to give maximum relief to its consumers.
Responding to a question regarding the Prime Ministers’ announcement of Rs 5/unit electricity prices reduction, NEPRA chairman said it is the government’s prerogative to give relief to the public.
He further said that NEPRA’s only role is to convey a fair price of the per unit of electricity to the government. He said it is upto the government either to pass it on to the consumers or to give relief to power consumers through the subsidy.
NEPRA will soon hold a meeting with Power Division officials for implementation of the PM’s announcement, said NEPRA chairman.
KE also sought reduction in the price of electricity by Rs. 0.302 per Kilowatt hour (kWh) under the head quarterly adjustment for the quarter ending December 2021 under Multi Year Tariff (MYT) 2017-2023.
Earlier, K-Electric in a tariff petition requested the NEPRA to approve Rs3.40 per unit hike in power price on account of fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for the month of January 2022.
As per details, the KE asked NEPRA to jack up the power tariff by Rs3.406 per kilowatt hour under the head FCA of January 2022 while KE also requested to decrease the base power tariff by 30 paisa under the head quarterly adjustment for the quarter October to December 2021.
It is relevant to note that the proposed FCA of January 2022 will be charged in the monthly electricity bill while the proposed negative 30 paisa per unit will be included in the base power tariff.
