The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Monday announced an additional cost of Rs1.90 per unit for consumers nationwide for June, followed by an increase of 93 paise per unit in both July and August. Concurrently, K-Electric submitted another fuel cost adjustment (FCA) claim for April, adding to its existing petition for Rs18.6 per unit for the past nine months, which is still pending before the power regulator.
In its latest request to Nepra, KE outlined its FCA claim for April based on three scenarios. Under two scenarios, the FCA for KE consumers would decrease by 74 paise to Rs1.18 per unit, while the third scenario suggests an additional charge of 44 paise per unit.
Nepra has scheduled a public hearing on this matter for later this month, although it has yet to resolve cases from the past nine months (July to March), for which a public hearing was concluded on May 9.
Including the claims pending with Nepra, KE is seeking FCA adjustments with a cumulative impact of Rs18.6 per unit, or approximately Rs26 billion, on a provisional basis under three different scenarios to clear a backlog and avoid a sudden increase in consumer costs.
Nepra Announces Rs1.90 per Unit Price Increase for June
KE stated that since its multi-year tariff (2024-30) is currently under regulatory review, it has filed FCAs based on three scenarios, requesting approval of one and guidance on a recovery mechanism for these 10 months to facilitate timely cost recovery and avoid further accumulation of adjustments.
The first scenario proposes calculating the FCA as the difference between the actual fuel cost and the reference monthly fuel cost as per the interim tariff in place. The second option seeks to charge consumers the difference between the actual and reference monthly fuel cost as per KE’s tariff petition currently under Nepra’s review. The third scenario suggests adopting the difference between actual fuel costs and annual weighted average fuel reference costs as per KE’s tariff petition.
The consumers of ex-distribution companies (Discos) have already paid an average of Rs2.89 per unit FCA for these months, according to KE’s team.
Separately, Nepra announced an additional charge of Rs1.90 per unit for consumers in June, followed by 93 paise per unit in July and August, under the quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) to allow power companies to collect an additional Rs46.6 billion from consumers.
These rates also apply to K-Electric consumers under the uniform tariff policy, excluding those using fewer than 100 units per month, who fall under the protected lifeline category.
“The authority has decided to allow the instant positive quarterly adjustments of Rs46.613 billion pertaining to the third quarter of FY2023-24, over three months—June 2024 to August 2024—at the rate of Rs1.90/kWh, Rs0.93/kWh, and Rs0.93/kWh for June, July, and August 2024, respectively, applicable to all consumer categories except lifeline consumers,” Nepra announced last week, officially notifying it on Monday in the official gazette.
Notifications have been sent to all Discos, including KE, to apply the Rs1.90 per unit additional cost in June, followed by 93 paise in July and August each.
Nepra has also completed the public hearing on the power division’s directive for about a 25% increase in the base national tariff, effective July 2024.
