ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has notified increase in tariffs of Distribution Companies by Rs1.06 per unit for October and November 2020 under monthly fuel price adjustment mechanism. CPPA-G had requested a positive FCA of Rs0.5713/kWh, having impact of Rs5.6 billion for October 2020, and positive FCA of Rs0.9583/kWh, having impact of Rs6.9 billion for November 2020.

The Authority conducted a public hearing for both FCAs i.e. October and November 2020, on December 30, 2020, which was presided over by Chairman NEPRA, Tauseef H. Farooqi. However, after analysing the entire data, provided by the CPPA-G, the Authority approved FCA of Rs0.2925/kWh, having impact of Rs2.9 billion for October 2020, and positive FCA Rs0.7696/kWh, having impact of Rs5.5 billion for November 2020.

The FCA of October and November 2020 will be charged in the billing month of January 2021 to all consumer categories of Discos, except lifeline consumers i.e. having consumption up to 50 units, and would remain applicable only for one month. This FCA is not applicable to KE consumers.

According to the determination, the Authority also during the hearing observed that, prima facie, certain efficient power plants were not fully utilized and instead energy from costlier RFO and HSD based power plants was generated to the tune of over Rs2.011 billion (Rs1.880 billion from RFQ and Rs0.131 billion from HSD based power plants) during the month of October 2020. The Authority has been directing NPCC/NTDC and CPPA-G repeatedly to provide complete justification in this regard to its satisfaction and submit complete details for deviation from Economic Merit Order (EMO), showing hourly generation along with financial impact for deviation from EMO, if any, along with the reasons.—MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN