The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday approved a refund of Rs 1.96 per unit in power tariff under monthly fuel price adjustment for April 2017. The decision was taken by the Authority headed by Chairman Nepra Brigadier Tariq Saddozai (retd) on a tariff petition filed by the Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guaranteed (CPPA-G). The refund would not be applicable to the consumers using less than 300 units in a month, agriculture consumers and K-Electric.

CPPA, in its petition submitted with the regulator, sought Rs 1.75 per unit reduction in power price on account of monthly fuel price adjustment. The total financial impact of Rs 1.96 per unit has been calculated at Rs 15 billion for April 2017. The CPPA, in the petition, said a total of 8,609 GWh were delivered to the Discos during April 2017 at a total cost of Rs 50.629 billion or Rs 5.88 per unit.

According to NTDC, transmission losses in April 2017 were recorded at 219.68 GWh or 2.48 per cent which is less than the target of 3 per cent. The data shows that per unit final loss has been calculated at 0.1543 paisa per unit. The total hydel generation was 2,025.7 GWh(22.9 per cent), coal 13.1 GWh, HSD 137.65 GWh, RFO 3,081 GWh, gas 1,938 GWh, RLNF, 785.68 GWh, nuclear 440.8 GWh, import from Iran 44.9 GWh etc.

The reference fuel price for April 2017 was estimated at Rs 7.62 per unit but the actual prices remained at Rs 5.8804 per unit. As per the CPPA petition, cost of hydel generation was 0.4939 paisa per unit, furnace oil power generation stood at Rs 10.24 per unit, gas at Rs 4.29 per unit, diesel at Rs 14.98 per unit, hydel Re 0.49 per unit, RLNG Rs 8.08 per unit, nuclear at Rs 1.005 per unit, mixed Rs 6.87 per unit and baggasse Rs 5.35 per unit.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017