Consumers to face a 3.99 per unit increase in Electricitty Bill June 2022
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Monday notified an increase in power tariff of Rs3.99 per unit to be recovered in the June 2022 electricity bill.
The increase is on account of a fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for April 2022.
The consumers will pay an additional 51 billion rupees. However, this will not apply to the K-Electric consumers and the lifeline users.
Earlier, Nepra held a public hearing to consider a proposal to raise the tariff by Rs4.5 per unit.
The Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G), while applying for the April fuel price adjustment, stated a generation of 12.55 billion units last month.
Nepra increases power tariff by Rs 4.8 per unit
During the hearing, the authority also observed that CPPA generated energy from costlier RFO based power plants to the tune of over Rs. 44,094 million during the month of April 2022.
According to data submitted by CPPA-G, XWDISCOs purchased 9.383 GWh from captive power plants (CPPs) in April 2022.
It is interesting to note that captive power plants (CPPs) had lower efficiency rates and the government of PTI had been providing expensive imported gas at cheaper rates to these captive power plants.
On the other hand, the government did not operate the most efficient power plants on cheaper fuel.
RLNG Power Plants
The power regulator noted that the second most efficient RLNG power plants in Pakistan are the Orient, Saif, Sapphire and Halmore power plants.
The efficiency of these power plants is above 51%. The utilization factor of Orient, Saif, Sapphire and Halmore on RLNG fuel was 61%, 42%, 43% and 64% respectively.
Similarly, the utilization factor of Saif Power and Sapphire Electric on HSD was around 16% and 15%.
The operation of these power plants on part load resulted in a part-load adjustment charge claim of more than Rs.422 million. Full utilization of these power plants was also necessary to minimize the load shedding through the generation of electricity from cheaper resources and avoid the part-load charges of Rs. 422 million.
NPCC/NTDC during the hearing explained the operation of power plants on RFO.
Increase in electricity bill June 2022
The major reason for the increase in electricity bills is running power plants on expensive fuels.
However, the power regulator observed that it had carried out an in-house analysis to work out the financial impact due to deviation from the energy merit order (EMO).
As per the in-house analysis, workings carried out, the net amount deductible, on a provisional basis, from the overall claim due to deviation from EMO is Rs. 580 million (Rs. 578 million financial impact due to System constraints and Rs. 2 million due to underutilization of efficient power plants).
The regulator decided to deduct this amount provisionally in the instant FCA until NPCC/ NTDC, and CPPA-G provides the required details along with complete justification in this regard.
