NEPRA cuts KE tariff by Rs2.15/unit under October FCA

• NEPRA chairman, members hold public hearing.
• FCA not applicable to lifeline consumers, others.
• NEPRA questions power generation through diesel.

ISLAMABAD: The power tariff for K-Electric (KE) consumers has eased by 2.15/unit for October under the fuel cost adjustment (FCA); however, it will not apply to lifeline consumers, users of under 300 units, and vehicle charging stations.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) notified the change in FCA Wednesday after a public hearing to study KE's proposed reduction. 

The hearing was chaired by Chairman NEPRA Engineer Tauseef H Farooqi and was attended by NEPRA Members Engineer Maqsood Anwar Khan and Engineer Rafiq Ahmed Shaikh.

According to NEPRA notification, in its plea submitted to the regulator, K-Electric sought a reduction of Rs7.83/unit under the FCA for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022-23 (July-September). In addition to this, K-Electric had also requested a slash of Rs1.88/unit under the FCA.

However, after crunching all the available data, the regulator calculated that the reduction under FCA was actually Rs2.15.

It has been estimated that due to this FCA, the consumers will get relief of Rs3.59 billion.

The K-Electric generated electricity at a cost of Rs32.96/unit from its own resources, while the cost of electricity purchased from CPPA was Rs12.1/unit, NEPRA officials said.

During the hearing, Chairman NEPRA questioned why electricity was generated from diesel in October and was the authority notified in advance of generating electricity from diesel.