Discos demand 25-paisa hike, KE seeks Rs1.9 cut for October.

ISLAMABAD -- The ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) on Friday sought an additional fuel cost (FCA) of about 25 paise per unit to generate about Rs2.5 billion in supplementary revenue on account of a higher cost of electricity consumed in October.

On the other hand, K-Electric has proposed a reduction in FCA by about Rs1.9 per unit to refund through tariff adjustment of about Rs3.16bn to consumers on account of cheaper electricity produced in October. Separately, KE has also sought about Rs7.8 per unit negative quarterly tariff adjustment for the July-September period.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authori-ty (Nepra) has accepted the tariff petitions for public hearings and has fixed Nov 29 for Discos and Nov 30 for KE's petition.

Regulator sets public hearings for Nov 29 and 30

The FCA for Discos' and KE is also now on the lower side compared to Rs8-9 per unit in previous months mainly because of an increase in nationwide uniform base tariff that has gone up by Rs7 per unit in July, the improved share of cheaper domestic fuels, particularly priceless hydropower generation and inexpensive nuclear power. The total power generation from domestic fuels stood at about 66pc in October, almost unchanged over September 2022.

The biggest contribution to the overall power grid came from hydropower at 29.4pc in October which was lower than 34pc share in September. Hydropower has no fuel cost. The lower availability of expensive imported RLNG also came as a blessing in disguise to consumers.

The CPPA claimed that the consumers were charged a reference fuel cost of Rs9.17 per unit in October, but the actual cost turned out to be Rs9.41 per unit, hence an additional charge of about 25paisa per unit to consumers.

Data shows that about 66pc share of domestic fuel sources in overall power generation in October and September was even higher than 64pc share both in July and August unlike 51.58pc share in June which was slightly lower than 54pc in May. The share of domestic fuel-based power generation had stood at 50pc in April and 45pc in March.

After hydropower, the second biggest share of about 21pc came from nuclear power plants in October, higher than 18pc in September and 13.3pc in August...