ISLAMABAD-National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has hinted at reduction of Re0.32 per unit in tariff for XWDiscos, on account of monthly FCA, as the regulator was informed that the electricity consumers had been burdened with an additional Rs40 billion during the last three years due to RLNG shortage.
As against the total demand of 710 mmcfd RLNG in October, only 400 mmcfd of imported gas was provided to the power plants, National Power Control Centre (NPCC) told in a public hearing organised by NEPRA on the CPPA petition for tariff revision on account of monthly fuel charges adjustments (FCA) for October. The public hearing was presided over by Chairman NEPRA Tauseef, H. Farooqui.
In its petition Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA-G) had sought an increase of Re 0.2457/unit in tariff, for ex-WAPDA power distribution companies (XWDiscos), on account of monthly FCA. The petitioner had claimed that reference fuel cost in October stood at Rs 9.1705/unit whereas the actual cost had been recorded at Rs 9.4162/unit, registering an increase of Rs 0.2457/unit for month of October 2022. However, after the initial scrutiny, NEPRA has indicated a reduction of Re 0.32/unit. The reduction will provide a relief of around Rs 3.3b to XWDISCOs consumers. During the hearing, the regulator was informed that Petroleum Division had told power sector that it did not have required RLNG for power plants. The less allocation of RLNG for power plants had caused the financial impact of Rs 259.81 million during the month of October 2022.It was informed that power plants had less allocation due to gas allocation priority issue and secondly, there was no RLNG available on spot purchases.  It was informed during the public hearing that power consumers had to bear a burden of Rs 40b during the last three years due to shortage of LNG.
Chairman Nepra raised the issue of allocation of RLNG for the power plants. Tauseef.H.Farooqui said that Petroleum Division should find out the solution to provide the required RLNG to the power plants. During the public hearing, it was further informed that NPPC had to operate some power plants on expensive fuel to avoid overloading that also resulted in financial impact of Rs 36.10 million. It was also informed that some efficient power plants had not been utilized and could not operate in line with economic merit order policy. Therefore, under-utilization of economical power plants had also led to financial impact of Rs 7.69 million during the period under review. CPPA-G had also provided the details of net metering units. It was informed that total net metering exported units stood at 12.65 Gwh which had been considered as part of total generation at cost of Rs 19.32/unit. It amounted to Rs 244.54 million that had been considered for October FCA. The losses on NTDC system stood at 2.36 percent as 2264 Gwh energy disappeared from the system due to losses. On HVDC system, losses were recorded at 2.57 percent. The reduction in tariff will not be applicable to KE consumers, lifeline, agriculture consumers and those using up to 300 per month. It will also not be charged from electric vehicle charging stations. Nepra said that it would issue detailed decision after further scrutiny of the data later.