ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Wednesday warned K-Electric and other Discos of imposing daily penalty in case they did not avoid loadshedding under the garb of Technical and Commercial (T&C) basis.
This warning was issued by the Member (Technical), Rafique Ahmad Shaikh during a public hearing on KE’s FCA adjustment request in which the company has sought a negative adjustment of Rs 4.98 per unit to refund Rs 7.179 billion to its consumers for November 2024. However, at the same time, the power utility company has sought adjustment of Rs 8.7 billion pending up to June 2024following determination of its generation tariff, which required partial load, open cycle and degradation curves, along with the startup cost. The amount is pending due to the actualization of these fuel costs.
During the hearing Nepra’s tariff team apprised that if this cost is allowed, the tariff of KE’s consumers will be increased in February 2025 instead of reducing it due to negative FCA adjustment on provisional basis.
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The consumers of Karachi expressed their anger at unabated load shedding in different parts of the city which is also affecting business activities. Tanveer Barry representative from Karachi Chamber said that the per unit actual cost for other DISCOs is estimated at Rs 9.25/kwh whereas KE actual per unit cost is estimated to be Rs 11.02/kWh which is 19% higher than the cost of other DISCOs. This clearly reflects the inefficiency in the KE system as inefficient power plants are adding to the financial burden of Karachi consumers, therefore KE should be made accountable for its higher electricity cost.
Regarding load shedding Barry said industrial export processing zones and commercial areas are facing severe load shedding and queried as to how they can benefit from the winter package. Those areas facing load shedding should get special Incremental package, he said adding that Karachi is the number 1 tax payer while it is facing severe load shedding. Rafique Ahmad Shaikh directed Nepra officials based in Karachi to check loadshedding in Karachi and report to the Authority.
“We have imposed fines on the Discos which are unleashing load shedding under the garb of T&C. I would recommend the Authority that if the companies are still unleashing load shedding, fines be imposed on them on a daily basis,” Rafique Shaikh added. Responding to the claims of massive load shedding in Karachi, CFO KE Aamir Ghaziani said that there is no load shedding in Karachi except high loss areas where people neither pay their bills nor remove the illegal hooks. He claimed that industry in Karachi is totally load shed free. Member (Technical) enquired from the officials of K-Electric about its projected growth in electricity consumption in the next five years. KE’s CFO stated that it was between 2.5 to 3 percent adding that they made assumptions on the basis of different factors including growth projections by international institutions and political stability in the country as well as the impact of shifting of industry on captive industry from gas to grid and solarization.
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