ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Wednesday quizzed Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guaranteed (CPPA-G) and Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco) on their multi-year market operation fee and multi-year tariff petition, respectively.
During the hearing, Authority sought clarifications on financial projections of CPPA-G including increase of Rs 613 million required next year after segregation of organisation, when retail market of electricity will commence in the country.
CPPA-G has sought revenue of Rs 910 million for FY 21, Rs 1.077 billion for FY22, Rs 1.189 billion for FY 23 and Rs 1.275 billion for FY 24. The projected net revenue requirement of CPPA-G is Rs 458 million for FY 21, Rs 973 million for FY 22, Rs 920 million for FY 23 and Rs 1.006 billion for FY 24.
CPPA-G has sought a fee of Rs 1.61/kW/M to be paid by the power Distribution Companies after recovering from consumers.
Nepra Chairman Taufeeq H Farooqi and Vice Chairman, Rafique Ahmad Shaikh raised questions on additional funding for next year and prima facie duplication of funds.
The CPPA-G team comprising acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Waseem Mukhtar, CFO Rehan Akhtar and other members defended the proposed fee multiyear fee structure and its components, saying the new organisation would require more technical workforce. The CPPA-G sought adjustment in administrative cost, office operations, services & maintenance, insurance and finance charges.
The Authority observed that when CPPA-G will be segregated next year, then why expenses are being sought now.
Vice Chairman Rafique Ahmad Shaikh who has been criticising CPPA-G in almost all the public hearings for not fulfilling responsibilities with respect to supply of cheap electricity to the consumers, also quizzed the management of CPPA-G on the proposed market operators fee.
During the hearing on Qesco’s multi-year tariff petition, Chairman Nepra proposed that the Disco should work on smart grids in the province as new policy in smart grids is about to be approved and unveiled by the regulator.
Qesco has proposed tariff of Rs 21.13 per unit for 2020-21, Rs 25.05 per unit for 2021-22, Rs 27.86 per unit for FY202-23, Rs 28.40 per unit for FY 2023-24 and Rs 29.82 per unit in 2024-25.
The authority observed that increase in power supply will increase recovery gap and losses. The company recovery is about 40 per cent whereas aggregate losses are hovering around 26 or 27 percent.
Rehmatullah Baloch, Nepra Member from Balochistan gave some instructions to the CEO of the company with respect to bringing improvement in it.
Chairman Nepra offered his personal as well Authority’s services to resolve power related issues of Qesco, saying that the Authority has not succeeded in revival of power plant but will continue to facilitate the company so that people of Balochistan can get reliable supply of electricity.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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