The Central Power Purchasing Agency- Guaranteed (CPPA-G) has sought 71 paisas per unit increase in tariffs of power Distribution Companies (Discos) for June 2018 under monthly fuel price adjustment mechanism. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) is scheduled to hear tariff petition of CPPA-G on July 2018, to be presided by Chairman or Vice Chairman of Nepra.

The CPPA, in its petition said that it purchased 3.99 GWh electricity generated on High Speed Diesel (HSD) in June 2018 at a cost of Rs 11.7631 per unit. The total generation from hydel sources was 3,589 GWh accounting for just 278 per cent of total generation.

The CPPA purchased 1,162.5 GWh electricity produced on Residual Fuel Oil (RFO), nine per cent of total generation at a cost of Rs 13.1236 per unit whereas the cost of electricity generated by using indigenous gas was Rs 4.7141 per unit and its total share in electricity generation was 2,026 GWh accounting for 15.69 per cent of total generation during the entire month. The electricity generated from RLNG was 3,252.28 GWh making it 25.18 per cent of total generation at a cost of Rs 9.3116 per unit. The coal-fired power generation was 1,522.47 GWh, 11.9 per cent of total generation at a cost of Rs 5.7587 per unit.

Nuclear power plants generated 656 GWh of electricity at a rate of Rs 0.9295 per unit, cheapest amongst all fuels. The electricity imported from Iran was 52.89 GWh at a price of Rs 11.57 per unit. The 109.25 GWh was generated through baggasse at a cost of Rs 6.1861 and 427.29 GWh and 57.05 GWh was purchased from wind and solar respectively.

According to the petition, total energy generated in June 2018 was 12,913.86 GWh at a total price of Rs 66.1788 billion. The net electricity delivered to power distribution companies'' was 9,877.93 GWh at a cost of Rs 61.983 billion and tariff Rs 5.1246 per unit. Out of total electricity generation, losses stood at 2.36 per cent (305 GWh at a cost of Rs 0.1383 per unit).

Data shows that 12,600.30 GWh of electricity was delivered to Discos which is 97.57 per cent of total generation at a total cost of Rs 71.758 billion. CPPA has calculated a tariff of Rs 5.6949 per unit for June 2018 based on all generation sources. CPPA-G has also sought Rs 5.657 billion in the name of previous adjustment/supplemental charges.

After sharing entire generation data and including Rs 5.657 billion supplemental charges, CPPA has sought an increase of 71 paisa per unit for June 2018 over the reference fuel charges i.e. Rs 4.9927 per unit estimated in 2015-16.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018