ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Saturday notified a 32-paisa per unit reduction on account of fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for consumers of ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) for October.
The adjustment applies to all users except those consuming up to 300 units, electric vehicle charging stations and agriculture consumers.
Power users entitled to the reduction will see the adjustment in December bills. Nepra said in a notification that the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) bought 47.77 gigawatt-hours — one GWh can power around one million homes for an hour — from Iran’s Tavanir power generation, distribution, and transmission company in October at the cost of Rs1.01 billion.
The power regulator said the contract between the CPPA and Tavanir for importing up to 104 megawatts of electricity expired on Dec 31, 2021. Therefore, the cost of electricity purchased from Tavanir has been allowed strictly on a provisional basis, subject to its adjustment once the authority decides the extension in the contract, it said.
The cost being allowed on a provisional basis was to avoid the costs from piling up and burdening consumers, Nepra said.
The regulator has highlighted that the national average purchase price (NAPP) for October was Rs19.32 per kilowatt-hour as per the tariff notified with effect from July 25.
Energy worth Rs5.27bn was generated from costlier furnace oil-based power plants in October, Nepra said, adding that the National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC), the National Transmission and Despatch Company and the CPPA had repeatedly been directed to provide complete justification in this regard.
The authority observed that the data submitted by the CPPA, along with the monthly fuel charge adjustments (FCA) data for October, was not provided as per Nepra’s requirements and the CPPA had been directed to submit the report in the required format.
