Discos, KE allowed to recover Rs52b deferred FCAs from power consumers.

ISLAMABAD -- The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has allowed the power distribution companies (Discos) and K-electric (KE) to recover deferred fuel charges adjustments of up to Rs 14.24/unit, having an impact of Rs52 billion, from the electricity consumers.

Meanwhile, in two separate decisions, NEPRA has increased power tariff by Rs1.76 per unit and Re0.48 per unit respectively for the consumers of KE and XWDiscos on account of monthly FCA for the month of January 2023. In another separate decision, NEPRA has allowed the federal government to terminate electricity subsidies worth Rs65 billion to industrial and agriculture sectors, jacking up the electricity price by Rs12.13/unit and Rs3.60/unit respectively for both the sectors.

Regarding recovering Rs52b from power consumers, the Authority has decided to accept the policy guidelines of the federal government and allowed both power companies to recover the staggered FCA from the power consumers, NEPRA said in its decision regarding Ministry of Energy, Power Division's Policy Guidelines for recovery of staggered fuel charges adjustment applicable for the months of August and September 2022 for Ex-WAPDA Distribution Companies and K-Electric Ltd. The federal government had sought NEPRA's decision on the policy guidelines for transferring the burden of Rs52 billion to the electricity consumers on account of staggered fuel charges adjustments (FCAs) for the months of June and July 2022.

It is worth mentioning here that NEPRA had determined the FCAs of Rs9.8972/unit and Rs4.3435/unit for the months of June and July 2022, respectively. The XWDiscos FCA for both the months was supposed to be charged in the billing months of August and September 2022, respectively.

For the consumers of K-Electric, the regulator had determined an increase of Rs9.8972/unit on account of FCA to be charged in the August 2022 billing cycle. Similarly the tariff was increased by Rs8.0909/unit on account of FCA for June 2022, which was supposed to be charged in September 2022. Since the July FCA was negative Rs4.1171/ unit, therefore for June FCA the consumers were supposed to pay only an additional Rs3.9738/unit instead of Rs8.0909/unit hike determined by NEPRA on account of June FCA. NEPRA had conducted public hearing on the MoE motion. During hearing, NEPRA had directed the Ministry of Energy to provide opinion from the Ministry of Law and Justice in the matter, also keeping in view the decision of...