ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has increased power Distribution Companies’ (Discos) power tariff by Rs4.74 per unit for October 2021 under monthly fuel cost component (FCC) mechanism, across the board except for lifeline consumers.
The Discos will reflect the fuel charges adjustment in respect of October 2021 in the billing month of December 2021.
The Discos will collect over Rs60 billion from the consumers.
According to the determination, the Authority has reviewed the information provided by the CPPA-G seeking monthly fuel cost adjustment (FCA) and due diligence is done accordingly.
From perusal of the information so provided by the CPPA-G, the actual pool fuel cost for the month of October 2021 was Rs9.9261/kWh, against the reference fuel cost component of Rs5.1733/kWh.
The actual fuel charges, as reported by the CPPA-G, for the month of October 2021 increased by Rs4.74/kWh as compared to the reference fuel charges.
The Authority conducted the hearing in the matter on November 30, 2021, wherein, it was observed that the CPPA-G has purchased energy of 41.4138 GWh from Tavanir Iran in October 2021 at a cost of Rs593.86 million.
The authority also observed that the CPPAG has filed its request with the authority for approval of extension of contract between the CPPA-G and Tavanir Iran for import of power up-to 104MW for the period from 01 January 2020 to 31 December 2021, which is under consideration of the authority.
In view thereof, the cost of electricity purchased from Tavanir Iran is being allowed strictly on provisional basis, subject to its adjustment once the authority decides the extension in the contract between the CPPA-G and Tavanir Iran.
The cost being allowed on provisional basis is to avoid piling up of the cost and one time burdening of the consumers in future.
The CPPA-G also claimed an amount of Rs5.171 billion on account of previous adjustments for the month of October 2021, which have been verified by the authority and accordingly has been included in the monthly FCAs of October 2021.
During the hearing, the authority also observed that, prima facie, certain efficient power plants were not fully utilised and instead energy from costlier RFO/ HSD-based power plants was generated to the tune of over Rs27.521 billion during the month of October 2021.
The authority has been directing NPCC/NTDC and CPPA-G repeatedly to provide complete justification in this regard, to the satisfaction of the authority and submit complete details for deviation from Economic Merit Order (EMO), showing hourly generation along with the financial impact for deviation from EMO, if any, and the reasons, thereof.
The authority observed that the required data/ information was submitted by the CPPA-G along with the monthly FCA data of October 2021; however, the data was not as per the requirements of the authority.
Accordingly, the CPPA-G was directed to submit that the report as per the desired format for consideration of the authority.
The authority also observed that an in-house analysis has also been carried out, to work out the financial impact due to deviation from EMO based on the information submitted by the NPCC.
As per the in-house analysis/ workings carried out, it has been noted that around 1,228GWIh were generated from RFO and 57GWh were generated using HSD during the month of October 2021, whereas, the capacities of RLNG, coal, and gas-based efficient power plants were underutilised.
The net amount deductible, on provisional basis, from the overall claim due to deviation from EMO due to underutilisation of efficient power plants works out as around Rs63.42 million.
The authority has decided to deduct this amount provisionally in the instant FCA, until NPCC/NTDC and CPPA-G provide the required details along-with complete justification in this regard to the satisfaction of the authority.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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