Nepra Raises Power Tariff for KE Consumers

ISLAMABAD: National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has increased power tariff up to Rs 0.40 per unit for consumers of K-Electric (KE).

NEPRA has issued its decision on K-Electric’s petition of provisional monthly fuel charge adjustments (FCA) for August 2024, at Rs 0.40 per unit. The amount will reflect in customer bills in the month of January 2025.Govt determined to make Pakistan hub of IT: Shaza Fatima

KE in a statement said that fuel charge adjustments are incurred by utilities due to global variations in fuel prices used to generate electricity, and the changes in generation mix. These costs are reflected in customer bills following NEPRA’s scrutiny and approval.

Customers also benefit from negative FCA in their bills when global fuel prices decrease. Rates charged to customer bills are determined by NEPRA and notified by the Federal Government.

As per the Regulatory Authority’s decision, FCA shall be applicable to all the consumer categories except Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS), lifeline consumers and Prepaid metering consumers

Nepra had conducted public hearing earlier to consider views of the public and other stakeholders. During the hearing, commentators made various submissions on the request of KE.

Mr. Imran Shahid and Mr. Ahmed Azeem intervenors had submitted that, despite privatization 19 years ago, KE is still not self-sufficient in generation and continues to rely on BQPS-I, resulting in higher FCAs. They further submitted that KE should be provided with more energy from NTDC. Mr. Imran Shahid also mentioned that load shedding has increased despite improved weather conditions, and KE is continuing to load-shed after 12 AM.

In response, KE stated that the cost of electricity from its own generation is higher because it lacks nuclear or hydro power plants and does not have a sufficient supply of indigenous gas for its generation fleet.

KE also submitted that, to reduce its generation cost, it has issued 640 MW of Renewable RFPs. Competitive bidding processes for the 150 MW Wind Bela Solar Project and the 220 MW Site Neutral Hybrid (Wind & Solar) Project have been concluded, and the bid evaluation reports have been submitted to NEPRA.

The competitive bidding process for the remaining projects is still ongoing. Additionally, the interconnection of the 500 kV KKI grid and 220 kV Dhabeji grid with the National Grid is in the final stages and is expected to be commissioned within the year. KE also plans to off-take power from the Jamshoro Coal Power Project after its conversion to local coal.

Regarding load shedding, KE submitted that the load-shedding schedule is communicated to NEPRA on a daily basis and is also updated on KE’s website. Load shedding is being carried out until 2 AM on specific feeders as per the load-shedding policy.